Artefact ID | 1285 |
TM ID | TM 701028 |
Findspot (DEChriM ID) | 68 (al-Filusiyya) | Class | Funerary element, Textual |
Material | Stone |
Writing medium | Inscription |
Text content | Subliterary |
Language | Greek |
Description | SEG LIX 1876: Epitaph of Harpokration. Dahari & Di Segni 2009, no. 4: Anthropomorphic stela of beach-rock of slightly tapering rectangular shape, surmounted by a head, with a tang at the bottom. H. 96 cm; W. 42 cm at the top, 39 at the bottom. The red paint filling the lines of the face and the letters is well preserved. The inscription is enclosed within a shallowly engraved rectangular frame. Below the frame is a large Jerusalem cross. The letters are mostly square (but one round omicron; hypsilon, alpha and delta cursive). 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 (here only var. εὐτύχει), εὐψύχει, οὐδεὶς ἀθάνατος, “fare thee well, be of good courage, nobody is immortal”, accompanied by the name of the deceased in vocative. |
Selection criteria | Christian terms/formulas/concepts, Christian symbols/gestures/isopsephy |
Date from | 350 |
Date to | 499 |
Dating criteria | Phrasing and palaeography point to 4th-5th c. according to ed. pr. |
Absolute/relative date | Relative 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 Antiquity Authority 4472 a. Returned to Egypt in 1993 (present location unknown) |