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Negev. Zoora, December 27, 349 CE. Tombstone. Epitaph.
Sandstone tombstone with diagonal stripe, engraved and painted red
Found by local inhabitants in the northwest corner of the Bronze Age, Byzantine and Islamic cemetery in the An Naq neighborhood south of the Wadi al-Hasa, probably in secondary use in later graves.
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ϊς Προσδοκί
ου ἀπογενομ
ένης ἐτῶν
ἔτους
νὸς
θάνατος
ἀθά
Monument of Thoai, (daughter) of Prosdokios, who died (at the age) of 16 years, in (the) year 244, on (the) 11th (day) of (the) month Audynaios, on (the) day of Mercury (Wednesday). Be of good cheer, no one (is) immortal. (Only) God (is) immortal.
The inscription provides the date as the day of Mercury on the 11th day of the month of Audynaios in the year 244 according to Era of the Province of Arabia, or Wednesday June 27, 349 CE. The tombstone is one of about 700 discovered in Byzantine Zoora and is in relatively good condition. The majority of the Greek tombstones from this location have been identified as Christian. The inscription contains spelling errors and was engraved in a mixture of round and square script,then traced with red paint. This tombstone is the first of the corpus in which the burial formula of "Θάρσει, οὐδὶς ἀθάνατος" is complemented by the phrase "Ὁ Θεὸς", though this is found in Christian epigraphy from other areas. The age numeral has a horizontal stroke above it, while the month and day numeral is inverted in the inscription. The abbreviation Θ(εὸ)ς lacks the normally expected horizontal bar above the letters (though this may be due to aging).The text on the final line is faded and is marked with a cross at the end. The author notes that the name Προσδόκιος appears in an epitaph on a Jewish tombstone from Beth She'arim. He also points out that the use of the participle ἀπογενομένης to indicate a deceased woman is confined to only three epitaphs in the middle of the fourth century. These examples from Zoora are the only known examples from Palestine, while the only known Roman example from Arabia is from Hauran.