| Artefact ID | 1232 |
| TM ID | TM 81595 |
| Findspot (DEChriM ID) | 16 (Biʾr Naqāṭ) | Class | Textual |
| Material | Stone |
| Writing medium | Inscription |
| Text content | Subliterary |
| Language | Greek |
| Description | I.Pan du désert 27; SEG XLIX 1488 [27] descr.: Stela of Flavius Iulius Granite slab damaged on all sides; original dimensions: 50 x 30 x 22.5 cm. The text was engraved inside a tabula ansata. The text reads: “Flavius Iulius, the very distinguished governor of Thebaid, was the one who built here a katholike church; at the time when Hatres was bishop of Maximianopolis.” The church of Biʾr Naqāṭ, where the document was found, was in activity at the same period as the nearby Melitian church of Ǧabal Abū Duḫān (I.Pan du désert 28). |
| Selection criteria | Mention of Christian cult officials/institutions, Archaeological context associated with Christian markers |
| Date from | 325 |
| Date to | 339 |
| Dating criteria | According to Łajtar and Wipszycka, Flavius Iulius, praeses of Thebaid, is likely to be the same person as Flavius Iulius Ausonius who is known from papyri to have been the first governor of the province of Augustamnica in 341/342. He would have been praeses of Thebaid before he became praeses of Augustamnica, since the latter was a position of higher rank. Moreover, a bishop of Maximianopolis named Hatres is known from literary sources, between 325 (other bishop attested for Maximianopolis) and 339, when he died and was replaced by another bishop. The diocese, Melitian in 325, was Athanasian under and after Hatres. More details in Łajtar and Wipszycka 1994: 72-74. |
| Absolute/relative date | Absolute date |
| Archaeological context | The inscribed slab was found by John G. Wilkinson in 1823 outside the porticoed church building located by the dry stream above Biʾr Naqāṭ. Wilkinson saw it one more time two years later, in 1825 (Wilkinson 1832, 49). It was sighted again by Leo A. Tregenza in 1949 (Tregenza 1949, 147). In November of the same year, the inscription was removed by George W. Murray, who brought it to Luxor and handed it for safe keeping to the Egyptian authorities (Murray 1951, 112). |
| Accession number | The storage location of the slab is unknown |
ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS
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