Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine Prinicipal Investigator Michael Satlow

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 zoor0176 zoor0176

Negev. Zoora. September 30, 444 CE. Purple and yellowish sandstone tombstone. Epitaph.

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Cross-rho Centered above the text Cross Centered below the text Chi Center of bottom cross Frame Left and right of the text Dots Alternating with zigzags on each side of the frame Serpentine motif Before age numeral in line six September 30, 444 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.

Εἷς Θεός. ἀμήν. ΜνημῖονΜνημεῖον Θεοφίλου Σιλανοῦ, ἀποθανόντος μετὰ καλοῦ ὀνόματος ἐτῶν μεʹ ἐν μηνὶ ὙπερβερετέουὙπερβερεταίου ιγʹ, ἔτους τλθʹ, ἡμέρᾳ ΕαμβάτῳΣαββάτω. ΘάρσιΘάρσει, Θεόφιλε, οὐδὶςοὐδεὶς ἀθάνατος. +

One (is) the God, amen. Monument of Theophilos, (son) of Silanus, who died having a good name (at the age) of 45 years, on (the) 13th day of the month Hyperberetaios, in (the) year 339, on Saturday. Be of good cheer, Theophilos, no one (is) immortal.

Εἷς Θεός. ἀμήν. ΜνημῖονΜνημεῖον Θεοφίλου Σιλανοῦ, ἀποθανόντος μετὰ καλοῦ ὀνόματος ἐτῶν μεʹ ἐν μηνὶ ὙπερβερετέουὙπερβερεταίου ιγʹ ἔτους τλθʹ ἡμέρᾳ ΕαμβάτῳΣαββάτω. ΘάρσιΘάρσει, Θεόφιλε, οὐδὶςοὐδεὶς ἀθάνατος.

The inscription provides the date as Saturday, the 13th day of the month Hyperberetaios in the year 339 according to the Era of the Province of Arabia, that is, September 30, 444 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 corners, chipped in the upper right section, and broken at the lower right side. Written in predominantly round script with a few square exceptions, the text is engraved upon a smoothed surface, which is weathered in the lower section and has an accumulation of salt crystals. Lines two, five, eight, and eleven are painted over in red. The inscription is framed on its left and write by vertical zigzag lines. Red-painted dots appear on both sides of the zigzag lines. An engraved, red-painted cross-rho figure is centered above the text. An outlined cross with an incised, red-painted chi in its center appears below the inscription. Three serpentine motifs appear before the age numeral in line six. A horizontal bar appears above the month day numeral in line seven. The text contains both spelling and grammatical errors.

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