Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine Prinicipal Investigator Michael Satlow

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 zoor0200 zoor0200

Negev. Zoora. September 10, 454 CE. Purple and yellowish sandstone tombstone with a grey stripe the left side. Epitaph.

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Frame Surrounding the text Cross-rho At the ends of lines one and thirteen Cross One ending line one's text, two ending line thirteen (see note) Vertical line Flanking the month day numeral in line eleven September 10, 454 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 Θεὀς. + ΜνημῖονΜνημεῖον Μαρθόνης Ἄψητος, διάκονος, ἀποθανούσης μετὰ καλοῦ ὀνόματος καὶ καλῆς πίστεως ἐτῶν πεντήκοντα, ἐν ἔτιἔτει τμθʹ, ἐν μηνὶ ΓαρπιέουΓορπιαίου γκʹ, ἡμέρᾳ Κυρίου ςʹ. ΘάρσιΘάρσει, οὐδὶςοὐδεὶς ἀθάνατος. + +

One (is) the God. Monument of Marthone, (daughter) of Apses, (the) deaconess, who died having a good name and good faith (at the age) of fifty years, in the year 349, on (the) 23rd (day) of (the) month Gorpiaios, on (the) 6th day of (the) Lord (Friday). Be of good cheer, no one (is) immortal.

Εἷς Θεὀς. ΜνημῖονΜνημεῖον Μαρθόνης Ἄψητος, διάκονος, ἀποθανούσης μετὰ καλοῦ ὀνόματος καὶ καλῆς πίστεως ἐτῶν πεντήκοντα, ἐν ἔτιἔτει τμθʹ ἐν μηνὶ ΓαρπιέουΓορπιαίου γκʹ ἡμέρᾳ Κυρίου ςʹ ΘάρσιΘάρσει, οὐδὶςοὐδεὶς ἀθάνατος.

The inscription provides the date as the 23rd of the month Gorpiaios, in the year 349 according to the Era of the Province of Arabia, that is, September 10, 454 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 stone is broken in the lower left corner and chipped all around. Written predominantly in round-oval script with a few square exceptions, the text is engraved upon a surface, which is flaked off on the left side and upper left corner. The text is surrounded by an engraved rectangular frame. The text and the decorative figures within it are also engraved. Line one ends with a simple cross followed by a cross-rho monogram. The adjective εἷς is underlined in line one. The inverted month day numeral in line eleven is flanked by two vertical lines. Line thirteen ends in a cross-rho monogram followed by two crosses, the second of which having linear serifs. The text contains both spelling and grammatical errors. Marthone is one of four deaconesses mentioned in the inscriptions from Ghor es-Safi.

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