E02367: The so-called 'complex of *John the Baptist (S00020)' in Gerasa/Jerash (Roman province of Arabia) comprises three churches (two oratories/eukteria and one naos), dedicated respectively to John the Baptist, *George (soldier and martyr, S00259), and *Kosmas and Damianos (brothers, physicians martyrs of Syria, S00385). Floor-mosaic inscriptions with dedicatory poems date the completion and paving of the church of George to 529/530, of John to 531, and of Kosmas and Damianos to 533. Two reliquaries were found in the church of George.
Creators: name: Pnowakowski
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2017
Subjects: History

description: Inscription 1 (church of John the Baptist):<br><br>Wide rectangular mosaic panel, framed by a tabula ansata (and by a band with waves on bottom). H. 0.47 m; W. 1.92 m. Letter height 0.085 m. Set in the floor in front of the chancel screen, in the lower register of the enclosure of the central mosaic carpet with amphorae, vine sprouts, and grapes. Five lines contain 12 verses of iambic trimeters (of various quality) and a dating formula in prose, beginning in line 5. Double dots mark the ends of verses and full stops in prose. Here set out in verse form.<br><br>First recorded by the expedition of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem in 1929 and published by Charles Welles in 1938 (the text was established by A.H.M. Jones). Republished by Reinhold Merkelbach and Josef Stauber in the Steinepigramme aus dem griechischen Osten and by Yiannis Meimaris and Nikoleta Makrigianni in Ἔρνος κύδιμον Παλαιστινῆς γαίης.<br><br>[+ ὅσ]οι βλέπουσι τοῦ τόπου τὸ κόσμιον <br>καὶ τῆς στέγης τὸ σεμνὸν ἢ τῆς ψηφίδος, <br>Παύλου δικαίως τοῦ σοφοῦ τοῦ ποιμένος ❦ |<br>̣α̣ἰνοῦσι ἀτεχνῶς τὴν ἄγαν προθυμίαν <br>καὶ τοῦ κτίσαντος τὴν χορηγίαν θ' ἅμα. <br>Θεόδωρος οὗτος οἴκοθεν χρυσὸ̣ν | διδούς, <br>ὃν Θωμᾶς ἐξέθρεψεν οἷα πατὴρ γεγώς, <br>ψυχῇ προθύμῳ προσφορὰν τῷ Προδρόμῳ <br>(οὗ τὴν ὁμώνυμον προσηγορίαν | ἐπέλαχεν), <br>ὁ πᾶσαν ἐνθεὶς τῷ τόπῳ τὴν καλλονήν. <br>ὁ Κύριος οὖν, τῶν ὅλων ὁ δεσπότης, <br>προσδέξεται πάντων τὴν καλὴν | προαίρεσιν. <br><br>ἐψηφώθη κ(αὶ) ἐστεγάσθη σὺν θεῷ τὸ πᾶν ἔργον τοῦ ἁγίου εὐκτηρίου τῷ δϙφ΄ ἔτει, μηνὸς Ἀπελλαίου, χρ(όνων) δεκάτης ἰνδικτ(ιῶνος).<br><br>5. θ' ἅμα Merkelbach &amp; Stauber, θαμά Welles (after Jones)<br><br>'[+] Whoever behold the artistry of this place and the grandeur of the roof and the mosaic, they truly and fairly applaud the great zeal of Paulos, the wise shepherd, as well as the generosity of the founder. It was Theodoros, who offered gold from his household, whom Thomas raised, when he became his father (?), with a devoted soul as an offering (prosphora) to the Forerunner (Prodromos), after whom he received a homonymous name, who set all the beauty in this place. So may the Lord, the ruler of all, accept this decent undertaking of all (contributors?). <br><br>The whole building of the holy oratory (eukterion) was paved and roofed with God in the year 594, in the month of Apellaios, in the time of the tenth indiction.'<br><br>Text: I. Gerasa, no. 306 with alternate interpretation of verse 5 after Merkelbach &amp; Stauber. Translation: P. Nowakowski.<br><br>Inscription 2 (church of George):<br><br>Framed mosaic panel. H. 0.40 m; W. 2.73 m. Letter height 0.08-0.10 m. Set in the floor of the nave, at its east end, in front of the chancel screen.<br><br>First recorded by the expedition of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem in 1929 and published by Charles Welles in 1938 (the text was established by A.H.M. Jones).<br><br>+ ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοφιλεσ̣τ[άτου καὶ ὁσιω(τάτου) ἐπισ]κόπου Πα[ύλου]<br>[ἐσ]τεγάσθη καὶ ἐψηφώθ̣η ̣κ[αὶ ἀ]̣ν̣εκοσμήθη ὁ ναὸς τ̣ο[ῦ ἁγίου]<br>[Γε]ωργίου ἐκ προσφορᾶς οὗ ὁ Κύριος οἶδεν τὸ ὄνομα ὑπ[ὲρ συν]-<br>χωρήσεως ἁμαρτιῶν ἐν χρόνοις η΄ ἰνδ(ικτιῶνος) τοῦ βϙφ΄ ἔτους. [+]<br><br>'+ Under the most dear-to-God [and most pious] bishop Paulos was roofed, and paved, and embellished the church (naos) of [Saint] George, from the offering of the one whose name the Lord knows, as a vow for the remission of (his) sins. In the time of the 8th indiction, the year 592.'<br><br>Text: I. Gerasa, no. 309. Translation: P. Nowakowski.<br><br>Inscription 3 (church of Kosmas and Damianos):<br><br>Rectangular mosaic panel framed by a tabula ansata. H. 0.90 m; W. 2.79 m (excluding ansae). Letter height: 0.06 m (line 1), 0.08 m (other lines). Set in the floor of the nave, in front of the chancel screen, immediately above the east border of the enclosure of the richly decorated central mosaic carpet. The panel is flanked by two frames containing perfectly preserved figures of the donors standing between trees. The left-hand panel shows a man holding a censer, labelled 'Theodoros, paramonar(ios)'. The right-hand frame shows a woman in the posture of an orant, labelled 'Georgia, (wife) of Theodoros, param(onarios)'.<br><br>The inscription begins with a dating formula in prose, written above the upper frame of the tabula ansata. The tabula contains 10 lines, each with one verse of the poem (iambic trimeters). At the beginning and at the end of each line there is an ornamentation and there are small Χ-shaped crosses in the corners of the tabula.<br><br>First recorded by the expedition of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem in 1929 and published by Charles Welles in 1938 (the text was established by A.H.M. Jones). Republished by in Reinhold Merkelbach and Josef Stauber in the Steinepigramme aus dem griechischen Osten and by Yiannis Meimaris and Nikoleta Makrigianni in Ἔρνος κύδιμον Παλαιστινῆς γαίης.<br><br>+ ̣ἐ̣ψ[ηφώθη τὸ εὐ]κτήριον τοῦ ἁγίου Κοσμᾶ καὶ Δαμιανοῦ τῷ εϙφ΄ ἔτει, Περιτίου, χρόνων ἑνδεκάτης ἰνδ(ικτιῶνος).<br><br>[τ]ῶν ἀθλοφόρων νῦν τὴν καλὴν ξυνωρίδα<br>̣σέβων προσεύχου. καὶ γάρ εἰσιν ἅγιοι,<br>τέχνην ἔχοντες τῶν παθῶν θελκτήριον.<br>ἐντεῦθεν ἕκαστος π̣ρ[ο]σφέρων ἀγάλλεται<br>ταύτῃ καλύπτων τοῦ βίου τὰ πταίσματα.<br>τούτοις δὲ πᾶσι τὴν προθυμίαν νέμει<br>Παῦλος ὁ ποιμὴν ὡς σοφὸς κυβερνέτης,<br>ἴκοντος αὐτοῦ τοῖς σοφοῖς ἐπιτάγμασιν<br>ἀνδρὸς ἀρίστου, οὗ μαθήσει τοὔνομα<br>τοῦ Προδρόμου σώζοντα τὸ ἐπώνυμον. <br><br>'+ The oratory (eukterion) of Saint Kosmas and Damianos was paved in the year 595, in the month of Peritios, in the time of the eleventh indiction.<br><br>Pray now, venerating the beauty couple of prize-bearers (athlophoroi). Because they are saints having the skill of alleviating afflictions. Thence every donor is gladdened, covering so the failures of his life. The shepherd Paulos, as a prudent steersman (kybernetes), passes (his) zeal to them all, while an excellent man follows his wise commands. You will learn that his name conceals that of the Forerunner.'<br><br>Text: I. Gerasa, no. 314. Translation: P. Nowakowski.<br><br>Inscription 4 (church of Kosmas and Damianos):<br><br>Chevron-shaped mosaic panel, completely filled with the inscription. Asymetrically placed (second from the north) in the upper left quadrant of the central mosaic carpet of the nave. Letter height 0.08 m.<br><br>The central mosaic consists of chevron-shaped and squarish panels. In addition to our inscribed panel, the first row of chevrons contains two panels with standing figures of donors (their faces seem to be erased), labelled respectively: 'Christ, help Ioannes, son of Astrikios!', and 'Christ, help Kalloionistos!' The third chevron in this row shows vines shoots growing from a vase. Other chevrons contain floral and geometric motifs. The squarish panels contain depictions of animals: birds, including a peacock, a hen and ducks, a hare, a deer, a lamb, a donkey (?), a jumping dog (?), oxen or bulls and cows, and others. The space between panels and the wide outer frame of the carpet are decorated with geometric motifs.<br><br> +<br> Κύριε<br> ὁ θ(εὸ)ς τοῦ ἁγίου<br> Κοσμᾶ κ(αὶ) Δαμιανοῦ<br>ἐλέησον τὸν τριβοῦνον<br> Δαγισθε͂ον καὶ πρόσ-<br> δεξε τὴν αὐτοῦ<br> προσφο-<br> ράν. <br><br>'+ O Lord, God of Saint Kosmas and Damianos, have mercy upon the tribune Dagistheos, and accept his offering!'<br><br>Text: I. Gerasa, no. 311. Translation: P. Nowakowski.