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ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID1290
TM IDTM 97447
Findspot (DEChriM ID)68   (al-Filusiyya)
ClassFunerary element, Textual
MaterialStone
Writing mediumInscription
Text contentSubliterary
LanguageGreek
Description

SEG LIX 1881: Epitaph of Joseph.

Dahari & Di Segni 2009, no. 9: Anthropomorphic stela of beach-rock of tapering rectangular shape surmounted by a trapezoid head; the bottom is missing. H. 111 cm; W. 40 cm; Th. 13 cm. The head is meticulously fashioned and the outline of the face is depicted with a double line.

The inscription is finely incised, mostly with square letters; no traces of paint on the stone. Crosses with emphasized apices mark the beginning and end of the first line and the end of the inscription. The ed. note that the last cross, underneath the epitaph, has a small base, reminiscent of the Calvary crosses common in the Gaza region.

Same consolatory formula as in the other steles sharing the same provenance – a combination restricted to the northern coast of Sinai (el-Huweinat and el-‘Arish) according to ed.pr.: εὐμοίρει, εὐψύχει, οὐδεὶς ἀθάνατος, “fare thee well, be of good courage, nobody is immortal”, accompanied by the name of the deceased in vocative.

Selection criteriaChristian terms/formulas/concepts, Christian symbols/gestures/isopsephy
Date from350
Date to499
Dating criteria

Phrasing and palaeography point to 4th-5th c. according to ed. pr.

Absolute/relative dateRelative date
Archaeological context

SEG LIX-1873-1882: One of the ten anthropomorphic stelai acquired in the antiquities market in the 1970s by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and the Israel Antiquities Authority; returned to Egypt in 1993; all stelai come from the Byzantine nekropolis at el-Huweinat 2 km south of Ostrakine (east of Lake Sirbonitis = Sbakhat el-Bardawil; northern Sinai).

Accession number

Formerly: Jerusalem, Israel Museum, Shrine of the book 82.2.961; Tel Aviv, Private collection Dayan number unknown. Returned to Egypt in 1993 (present location unknown)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio princeps

• Dahari, Uzi & Di Segni, Leah. 2009. “More Early Christian Inscribed Tombstones from el-Huweinat in Northern Sinai.” In Man Near a Roman Arch. Studies Yoram Tsafrir, ed. L. Di Segni, Y. Hirshfeld, J. Patrich and R. Talgam. Jerusalem, 125-141: no. 9 with photo.

Additional bibliography

• Chaniotis, A., Corsten, T., Papazarkadas, N. and Tybout, R.A. 2009. “SEG 59-1873-1882. Ostrakine (area of: el-Huweinat). Christian epitaphs, early Byzantine period.” In Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Current editors: A. T. E. N. Chaniotis Corsten Stavrianopolou Papazarkadas. Consulted online on 14 July 2021.  

• Tsafrir Y. 1984. Eretz Israel from the Destruction of the Second Temple to the Muslim Conquest, 2. Archaeology and Art. Jerusalem (Hebrew), 392 (photo and translation).

Authors
Valérie Schram, 2021
Suggested citation
Valérie Schram, 2021, "Artefact ID 1290", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1290
External links
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