For the sake of convenience we present here a continuous text. For the layout of the inscription, written in four columns, see the attached images.
ἐπὶ τοῦ ἁγιωτάτου Εὐφρασίου [ἐπι]̣σκ(όπου) ἐκτίσθη και ἐτελιώθη <ὁ ναὸς> τοῦ ἁγίου Γεοργίου σπουδε῀ς Θο(μᾶ) πρεσβυτ(έρου) καὶ παρα̣μοναρίου, ἔτο(υς) υλγ΄, ἑ εὐχὲ τοῦ ἁγίου Γεοργίου ὑπὲρ τε῀ς κόμες ταύτες Αμε[.]α καὶ ὑ(π)ὲρ ̣Σα̣ε̣δου
<ὁ ναὸς> Tybout in SEG, <τοῦ ναοῦ> Sartre 2000 || ε ευχε = ἐ(ν) εὐχε῀ (?) Sartre 2000
'Under the most holy bishop Euphrasios the of Saint George was founded and completed by the efforts of the presbyter and watchman (paramonarios) Thomas, in the year 433. The intercessions of Saint George for this village of Ame[.]a and for Saedos (?).'
Text: IGLS 13/2, no. 9713.
Evidence ID
E02009Saint Name
George, martyr in Nicomedia or Diospolis, ob. c. 303 : S00259Saint Name in Source
ΓεόργιοςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Evidence not before
538Evidence not after
539Activity not before
538Activity not after
539Place of Evidence - Region
Arabia
Arabia
ArabiaPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Bosra
Jizeh
AdrahaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Bosra
Sakkaia / Maximianopolis
Σακκαια
Sakkaia
Saccaea
Eaccaea
Maximianopolis
Shaqqa
Schaqqa
Shakka
Jizeh
Sakkaia / Maximianopolis
Σακκαια
Sakkaia
Saccaea
Eaccaea
Maximianopolis
Shaqqa
Schaqqa
Shakka
Adraha
Sakkaia / Maximianopolis
Σακκαια
Sakkaia
Saccaea
Eaccaea
Maximianopolis
Shaqqa
Schaqqa
ShakkaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocationCult Activities - Miracles
Miraculous protection - of communities, towns, armiesCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Other lay individuals/ people
PeasantsSource
A large stone lintel, lightly rounded at both ends. H. 0.325 m; W. 2.00 m. Letter height 0.05 m. Decorated with three carvings of crosses within circles. When recorded, the stone was reused as the lintel of a doorway in a house.
Jizeh was first surveyed by Gottlieb Schumacher in 1894. He noted the presence of numerous carved crosses, inscriptions with epitaphs and one referring to *Sergios (E02020), and remnants of a church and a monastery. The site was revisited by René Dussaud and Frédéric Macler soon after. Our inscription was, however, recorded only in 1982 by Maurice Sartre and Annie Sartre-Fauriat (copy, photograph). First published in 2000, and republished in 2011 in the thirteenth volume of Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie.Discussion
The inscription commemorates the construction of a church dedicated to George. Maurice Sartre notes that the saint was very popular in the Hauran in the 6th-8th c. and that he was frequently chosen as a patron for churches in this region (for 10 parallel dedications, see: IGLS 13/2, 173). It seems that the man behind the construction of our shrine was the presbyter and sacristan (paramonarios) Thomas. Bishop Euphrasios, appearing in the dating formula, is otherwise unattested. His see was probably Adraha, a major city to the west of Jizeh, and not Bostra (where one would expect an archbishop or a metropolitan in the 6th c.). Sartre however notes that there remains the theoretical possibility that Euphrasios resided in Bostra.
Strangely, the designation of the church itself is not specified in the text though the genitive case of the name of the saint clearly shows that it was meant to be there. The relevant passage reads: ἐκτίσθη και ἐτελιώθη <- - -> τοῦ ἁγίου Γεοργίου/'<- - -> of Saint George was built.' Sartre supposes that the word was accidentally omitted by the stone-cutter and plausibly restores it as ναός which is common in the region (but cf. L'Année épigraphique 2000, 1541 where Follet and Gatier argue that the designation of the church could be understood and never included in the text).
The inscription is the only source that preserves the ancient name of the village of Jizeh: probably Ame[l]a, Ame[r]a or Ame[d]a.
Dating: the date, the year 433, is computed according to the era of the province of Arabia and corresponds to AD 538/539.Bibliography
Edition:
Sartre, M., Sartre-Fauriat, A. (eds.), Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, vol. 13/2: Bostra (Supplément) et la plaine de la Nuqrah (BAH 194, Beirut: Institut français du Proche-Orient, 2011), no. 9713.
Sartre-Fauriat, A., "Georges, Serge, Élie et quelques autres saints connus et inédits de la province d'Arabie", in: Fr. Prévot (ed.), Romanité et cité chrétienne. Permances et mutations. Intégration et exclusion du Ier au VIe siècle. Mélanges en l'honneur d'Yvette Duval (Paris: De Boccard, 2000), 300-301.
Sartre, M., "Évêques de Bostra et d'Adraha: une inscription de Jizeh (Syrie du Sud)", in: Fr. Prévot (ed.), Romanité et cité chrétienne. Permances et mutations. Intégration et exclusion du Ier au VIe siècle. Mélanges en l'honneur d'Yvette Duval (Paris: De Boccard, 2000), 289-292.
Reference works:
L'Année épigraphique (2000) [2003], no. 1541.
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 50, 1518; 50, 1520.
