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ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID1449
TM IDTM 119947
Findspot (DEChriM ID)44   (al-Iskandariyya)
ClassTextual
MaterialStone
Writing mediumDipinto, Inscription
Text contentDocumentary
LanguageGreek
Description

IGChrEg 18: Panel of a Funerary Chapel 
The inscription is made up of a drawing of a large, greenish shield, containing ΧΡ ΧΤ (Χρ[ιστου] χ[αρι]τ[ι]) in the top half, and three olive branches in the lower half. To the right, a slender cross pattée features the letters α, Γ, υ, and φ (the meanings of which were not deciphered by Lefebvre 1907) between its arms.
Found in a hygogeum, a clearly Christian funerary chapel measuring 3.24 m in length and width, and 4.46 m in height, the inscription is located on the wall to the right side.
Below the drawing, at the bottom of the wall, a loculus cut into the rock is marked by an inscription above it as “for sale” (ΑΠΡΑΤΟϹ, «not yet bought»).

Selection criteriaChristian terms/formulas/concepts, Christian symbols/gestures/isopsephy, Archaeological context associated with Christian markers
Date from300
Date to399
Dating criteria

Palaeography; Archaeology of the find site; Christian context.

Absolute/relative dateRelative date
Archaeological context

Funerary chapel discovered in the north-west of the Necropolis of al-Qabbārī, August 1876. Found alongside IGChrEg 20. The chapel has been destroyed.

Accession number

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio princeps
• Lefebvre, Gustave. 1907. Recueil des Inscriptions Grecques-Chrétiennes d’Egypte. Cairo: Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale. 5, No. 18. 

Additional bibliography
• Leclercq, Henri. 1924. “Alexandrie (Archéologie).” In Dictionnaire d’Archéologie Chrétienne et de Liturgie 1(1), edited by Ferdinand Cabrol and Henri LeClercq. Paris: Librairie Letouzey & Ané. col. 1008-1182: col. 1152.
• Néroutsos-Bey, Tassos. 1888. L’Ancienne Alexandrie. Etude Archéologique et Topographique. Paris: Leroux. 76-77.

Authors
Victoria G. D. Landau, 2022
Suggested citation
Victoria G. D. Landau, 2022, "Artefact ID 1449", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1449
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