Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine Prinicipal Investigator Michael Satlow

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 zoor0047 Zoor 0047

Negev. Zoora, February 22, 385 CE. Tombstone. Funerary (Epitaph).

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Purple and white sandstone tombstone

Cross-rho Three cross-rho figures appear below the last line of text, arranged in a horizontal line Angular motif On either side of the age numeral in line four February 22, 385 CE Negev Zoora An Naq cemetery

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.

Department of Antiquities of Jordan

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 Creation Adding Pleiades IDs to origin/placenames adding period attribute to date element, with Periodo value. Corrected encoding and edited metadata

ΜνημῖονΜνημεῖον Μαγοδέλης Παύλου, ἀποθανούσης ἐτῶν ζʹ, ἐν ἔτει σοθʹ, μηνὸς Δύστρου ηʹ.

Monument of Magodele, (daughter) of Paulus, who died (at the age) of 7 years, in the year 279, on (the) 8th (day) of (the) month Dystros.

ΜνημῖονΜνημεῖον Μαγοδέλης Παύλου, ἀποθανούσης ἐτῶν ζʹ ἐν ἔτει σοθʹ μηνὸς Δύστρου ηʹ

The inscription provides the date as the 8th day of the month Dystros in the year 279 according to the Era of the Province of Arabia, that is, February 22, 385 CE. The tombstone is one of about 700 discovered in Byzantine Zoora. The majority of the Greek tombstones from this location have been identified as Christian. The tombstone, which is almost rectangular in shape, is broken at the upper left and lower right corners and chipped all around. The smoothed inscribed surface includes three cross-rho figures arranged in a horizontal line below the last line of text. The cross-rho in the middle is smaller than its two flanking cross-rho figures. The text is written with engraved round script, which was painted over in red paint with traces of incised guide-lines, and includes spelling and grammatical errors. The age numeral is emphasized by a horizontal bar above it and an angular motif on either side of it. The year and month numerals are also denoted by horizontal bars above them. In line five, μηνὸς is abbreviated with a large μ and a smaller η engraved above it. The personal name Μαγοδέλη is the Greek equivalent of the compound theophoric Semitic name Mgd'el, composed of mgd "glory" and the divine name 'El, which could be translated "the glory of 'El."

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