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Negev. Zoora. April 20, 452 CE. Yellowish sandstone tombstone. Epitaph.
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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Εἷς Θεὸς.
μῖον
να Μαγδίου, ἀπ
οθ
ἐτῶν
θικοῦ
ρᾳ Παρασκευῇ.
τος.
One (is) the God. Monument of Oualentina (Valentina), (daughter) of Magdios, who died (at the age) of 20 years, in the year 347, on (the) 30th (day) of (the) month Xanthikos, on Friday. Be of good cheer, no one (is) immortal.
The inscription provides the date as Friday, the 30th of the month of Xanthikos, in the year 347 according to the Era of the Province of Arabia, that is, April 20, 452 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 originally rectangular tombstone is pointed at the top, broken in the lower section, chipped all around, and mended from two fragments. Written in square script, the text is engraved upon a smoothed surface, which is flaked off at the edges. Lines one, three, five, seven, nine, and ten are painted over in red. The text is surrounded by an incised frame, the bottom of which is only discernible at the edges. The upper line of the frame is painted red, while the remaining two sides only preserve traces of paint. A hollowed, outlined cross appears above the frame and preserves traces of green paint. Another smaller, red-painted cross appears above this cross. The lower cross is flanked by two birds drawn in red paint, the right of which is partially faded. Traces of red paint below the inscription suggest that another symbolic scene originally appeared there. The editor notes that though the deceased's name is Latin, the patronymic suggests that she was native to the region. A horizontal bar appears above the year numeral in line six and the month day numeral in line seven. The bar in line six is both incised and painted red. The text contains both spelling and grammatical errors.