E00555: Six Greek epigrams, inscribed in the church, commemorating the refurbishment of the church of *Euphemia (martyr of Chalcedon, S00017) in the quarter of Olybrios in Constantinople, by the Anicia Iuliana, 500/527. The church had been built and embellished in 462/472 by the former West Roman empress Licinia Eudoxia and her daughter Placidia (Anicia Iuliana's grandmother and mother). Recorded in the 10th c. Greek Anthology.
Creators: name: Pnowakowski
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2015
Subjects: History

description: Greek Anthology, Book 1 (Christian Epigrams), 12-17<br><br>12.<br>Εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν Εὐφημίαν τὴν Ὀλυβρίου<br><br>Εἰμὶ δόμος Τριάδος, τρισσὴ δέ με τεῦξε γενέθλη.<br>πρώτη μὲν πολέμους καὶ βάρβαρα φῦλα φυγοῦσα<br>τεύξατο καί μ᾽ ἀνέθηκε Θεῷ ζωάγρια μόχθων<br>Θευδοσίου θυγάτηρ Εὐδοξία· ἐκ δέ με κείνης<br>Πλακιδίη κόσμησε σὺν ὀλβίστῳ παρακοίτῃ·<br>εἰ δέ που ἀγλαΐης ἐπεδεύετο κάλλος ἐμεῖο,<br>τήνδε μοι ὀλβιόδωρος ὑπὲρ μνήμης γενετήρων<br>δῶκεν Ἰουλιανὴ καὶ ὑπέρτατον ὤπασε κῦδος<br>μητέρι καὶ γενέτῃ καὶ ἀγακλέϊ μητρὶ τεκούσης,<br>κόσμον ἀεξήσασα παλαίτερον. ὧδ᾽ ἐμὸν ἔργον.<br><br><br>'On Saint Euphemia [in the quarter] of Olybrios<br><br>I am the house of the Trinity, and three generations built me. First Eudoxia, the daughter of Theodosius, having escaped from war and the barbarians, erected and dedicated me to God in acknowledgement of her rescue from troubles. Next her daughter Placidia with her most blessed husband adorned me. Thirdly, if perhaps my beauty was at all deficient in splendour, magnificent Iuliana invested me with it in memory of her parents, and bestowed the height of glory on her mother and father and her mother’s illustrious mother by augmenting my former adornment. Thus was I made.'<br><br><br>13.<br>Εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν ναὸν ἔνδοθεν τοῦ περιδρόμου<br><br>Κάλλος ἔχον καὶ πρόσθεν ἐπήρατον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ μορφῇ<br>τῇ πρὶν ἀρειοτέρην νῦν λάχον ἀγλαΐην.<br><br><br>'In the same church, inside the gallery<br><br>I had loveliness before, but now in addition to my former beauty I have acquired greater splendour.'<br><br><br>14.<br>Ἄλλο<br><br>οὕτω γῆρας ἐμὸν μετὰ μητέρα καὶ μετὰ τηθὴν<br>ξῦσεν Ἰουλιανή, καὶ νέον ἄνθος ἔχω.<br><br><br>'Another<br><br>Thus did Iuliana, after her mother and grandmother, scrape off my coat of old age, and I blossom anew.'<br><br><br>15.<br>Ἄλλο<br><br>Ἦν ἄρα καὶ κάλλους ἔτι κάλλιον· εὖτ᾽ ἐμὸν ἔργον,<br>καὶ πρὶν ἐὸν περίπυστον, ἀοίδιμον ἐς χθόνα πᾶσαν,<br>ἀγλαΐης προτέρης ἐς ὑπέρτερον ἤγαγε κάλλος<br>τόσσον Ἰουλιανή, ὅσον ἄστρασιν ἀντιφερίζειν.<br><br><br>'Another<br><br>So there was then something even more beautiful than beauty! For Iuliana has raised my ornament – also formerly widely known and famous all over the earth – to a beauty so superior to its former splendour, that it rivals the stars.'<br><br><br>16.<br>Ἄλλο<br><br>Αὐτὴν ἐργοπόνοισιν ἐπιπνείουσαν ἀρωγὴν<br>εἶχεν Ἰουλιανὴ μάρτυρα νηοπόλον·<br>οὔποτε γὰρ τοῖόν τε τόσον τ᾽ εὐδαίδαλον ἔργον<br>ἤνυσεν, οὐρανίης ἔμπλεον ἀγλαΐης.<br><br><br>'Another<br><br>Iuliana had the martyr herself, the patroness of the church, to inspire and help the artificers. For never would she have accomplished otherwise so great and so elaborate a work, full of heavenly splendour.'<br><br><br>17.<br>Ἄλλο<br><br>Οὐκέτι θαυμάζεις προτέρων κλέος· οὐ διὰ τέχνης<br>εὖχος ἐν ὀψιγόνοις λίπον ἄσπετον, ὁσσάτιόν περ<br>κῦδος Ἰουλιανῆς πινυτόφρονος, ἣ χάριν ἔργων<br>ἀρχεγόνων νίκησε νοήματα πάνσοφα φωτῶν.<br><br><br>'Another<br><br>You no longer marvel at the glory of those in former times: by their art they did not leave a fame so great as the glory of wise Iuliana, who by her work surpassed the skilled design of her ancestors.'<br><br><br>Text and translation: Paton and Tueller 2014; translation adapted.