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4CARE-ARTEFACTS

ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID1285
TM IDTM 701028
Findspot (DEChriM ID)68   (al-Filusiyya)
ClassFunerary element, Textual
MaterialStone
Writing mediumInscription
Text contentSubliterary
LanguageGreek
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 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 Antiquity Authority 4472 a. 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. 4 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

Authors
Valérie Schram, 2021
Suggested citation
Valérie Schram, 2021, "Artefact ID 1285", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1285
External links
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