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4CARE-ARTEFACTS

ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID700
TM IDTM 102987 + 102988
Findspot (DEChriM ID)15   (al-Baǧawāt)
ClassTextual
MaterialPlaster
Writing mediumDipinto
Text contentSubliterary
LanguageGreek
Description

I.Oasis p. 70-71 no. 13; IGChrEg 354; SEG XXXVIII 1710: trishagion and prayer.

On the east wall, painted in red, in two columns, a funerary inscription for a woman, perhaps named Tetouis and her sons (Wagner 1987: 70).

The first column is centred right above a large crux ansata located in the middle of the wall and painted in the same colour. It bears part of the Sanctus of the early Egyptian anaphora drawing on Isa. 6:3, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth; heaven and earth are full of your glory" (see parallel in the 4th c. Euchologium of Montserrat, including the anaphora).

Another column was added to the right, the first two lines of which are in the same kind of square majuscule hand as in the first one (see also the legends in the Chapel of Peace, in Chapel 25, I.Oasis p. 69 no. 12 or the presbyteral blessing of Dayr al-Baǧawāt). These lines contain an invocatio to the "Lord almighty" to have mercy on the deceased woman. More lines, written in a round informal hand with a few ligatures, were added afterwards in this second column and integrate to the prayer the mention of her deceased sons who must have died later (with echo to Ps. 16.8).

On the north wall of the same chapel (facing the entrance) I.Oasis p. 69 no. 12 and, outside,  I.Oasis p. 69 no. 11.

Selection criteriaSubliterary genre (Liturgical), Christian symbols/gestures/isopsephy, Biblical quote or paraphrase, Archaeological context associated with Christian markers
Date from400
Date to499
Dating criteria

Archaeological context. Probably written later than I.Oasis p. 69 no. 12 (Cipriano 2003: 277).

Absolute/relative dateRelative date
Archaeological context

Chapel no. 53, one of the oldest square domed type (type 4), opening south. The interior is coated with a layer of plaster; a crux ansata is painted on every wall (see Fakhry 1951: 125).

Accession number

Al-Baǧawāt, in situ (Chapel no. 53 / Roquet, Ghica no. 28.05).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference editions

• Koenen, Ludwig. 1968. "Zwei Inschriften aus El-Bagawāt". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 2, 78-80 no. 3.

• Wagner, Guy. 1987. Les oasis dʼÉgypte à lʼépoque grecque, romaine et byzantine dʼaprès les documents grecs. Cairo: Ifao, 70-71, no. 13.

Editio princeps

• Lefebvre, Gustave. 1907. Recueil des inscriptions grecques-chrétiennes d'Égypte. Cairo: Ifao, no. 354.

Additional bibliography

• Cipriano, Giuseppina. 2003. El-Bagawat. Un cimitero paleocristiano nellʼalto Egitto. Rivista di archeologia cristiana 79. Todi: 277 n. 120.

• De Bock, W. 1901. Matériaux pour servir à lʼarchéologie de lʼÉgypte chrétienne. St. Petersbourg, 12 (fig. 17b and c) and 13.

• Fakhry, Ahmed. 1951. The Necropolis of El-Bagawat in Kharga Oasis. Cairo: Government press, 125-126, no. 53.

• Millet, Gabriel. 1910. "Note sur une inscription liturgique dʼÉgypte". Annales du Service des antiquités de lʼÉgypte 10: 24-25.

• Pleket, H.W. and Stroud, R.S. 1988. “SEG 38-1697-1725. Khargeh Oasis (Bagawat). Inscriptions, graffiti, funerary stelai.” In Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Current editors: A. T. E. N. Chaniotis Corsten Stavrianopolou Papazarkadas. Consulted online (2021).

Authors
Valérie Schram, Victor Ghica, 2021
Suggested citation
Valérie Schram, Victor Ghica, 2021, "Artefact ID 700", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/700
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