Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine Prinicipal Investigator Michael Satlow

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 zoor0161 zoor0161

Negev. Zoora. September 17, 439 CE. White sandstone tombstone with purple stripes. Epitaph.

 46.5 30 09.5

Geometric shape In the lower left and right margins September 17, 439 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.

ΜνημῖονΜνημεῖον Καρπώνις Μορέσου, ἀποθανόντος ἐτῶν μʹ, ἐν ἔτιἔτει τλδʹ ἐν μηνὶ ΓορπιέουΓορπιαίῳ τριακοστῇ, ἐν ἡμέρᾳ Κυρίου πρώτῃ.

Monument of Karponi(o)s, (son) of Moresos, who died (at the age) of 40 years, in the year 334, on the thirtieth (day) of the month Gorpiaios, on the first day of (the) Lord (Sunday).

ΜνημῖονΜνημεῖον Καρπώνις Μορέσου, ἀποθανόντος ἐτῶν μʹ ἐν ἔτιἔτει τλδʹ ἐν μηνὶ ΓορπιέουΓορπιαίῳ τριακοστῇ, ἐν ἡμέρᾳ Κυρίου πρώτῃ.

The inscription provides the date as the first day of the Lord (Sunday), the 30th day of the month Gorpiaios in the year 334 according to the Era of the Province of Arabia, that is, September 17, 439 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 nearly rectangular tombstone is curved at the top and chipped on all sides. Written predominantly in oval-round script with a few square rhos, the text is engraved upon a smoothed surface, which is flaked off at the edges, weathered in the middle, and has concentrations of salt crystals and lichens. Lines two and eight are also painted red. Triangular motifs filled with red paint and alternating facing inwards and outwards appear in the lower left and right margins of the text. A horizontal bar appears above and below the age numeral in line five and the year numeral in line six. A red horizontal bar appears above the abbreviation of Κυρίου in line nine. The text contains both spelling and grammatical errors. The editor notes that the patronymic Μόρεσος is the Greek rendering of a Semitic name otherwise unattested in Palestine and Arabia.

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