Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine Prinicipal Investigator Michael Satlow

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 zoor0180 zoor0180

Negev. Zoora. April 3, 445 CE. White sandstone tombstone. Epitaph.

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Cross (see note) April 3, 445 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 Κασσισέου Πέτρου, ἀναγνώστου, τελευτέσοντοςτελευτήσαντος ἐτῶν λβʹ, ἐν ἔτιἔτει τμʹ, μηνὸς Ξανθικοῦ τρῖς καὶ δεκάτῃ, ἡμέρᾳ Κυρίου τρίτῇ. Θάρσει, οὐδεὶς ἀθάνατος. +

Monument of Kassiseos, (son) of Petros, the reader, who died (at the age) of 32 years, in the year 340, on the thirteenth (day) of (the) month Xanthikos, on the third day of (the) Lord (Tuesday). Be of good cheer, no one (is) immortal.

ΜνημῖονΜνημεῖον Κασσισέου Πέτρου, ἀναγνώστου, τελευτέσοντοςτελευτήσαντος ἐτῶν λβʹ ἐν ἔτιἔτει τμʹ μηνὸς Ξανθικοῦ τρῖς καὶ δεκάτῃ, ἡμέρᾳ Κυρίου τρίτῇ. Θάρσει, οὐδεὶς ἀθάνατος.

The inscription provides the 3rd day of the Lord (Tuesday), the thirteenth day of the month Xanthikos in the year 340 according to the Era of the Province of Arabia, that is, April 3, 445 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 rectangular tombstone is broken in the middle left side and lower left corner. Written in round script, the text is engraved upon a smoothed surface, which has accumulations of salt crystals and lichens in the lower section. Lines one, four, and seven of the text are painted over in red. Three incised crosses with triangular serifs appear above the inscription and preserve traces of red paint. Another simple cross appears at the end of the final line. A horizontal bar appears above each figure of the age numeral in line four as well as the hundreds and tens figures of the year numeral in line five. The text contains both spelling and grammatical errors. The editor notes that τρῖς καὶ δεκάτῃ is a cardinal number, rather than the required ordinal number. The office of anagnostes was appointed by the bishop and responsible for reading and expounding upon scripture.

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