4care-artefacts – 4care

4CARE-ARTEFACTS

ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID	1289
TM ID	TM 97436
Findspot (DEChriM ID)	68 (al-Filusiyya)
Class	Funerary element, Textual
Material	Stone
Writing medium	Inscription
Text content	Documentary
Language	Greek
Description	SEG XXVIII 1465; SEG LIX 1880 descr.: Epitaph of Alphios. Epitaph already published in Lifshitz 1971, but new description in Dahari & Di Segni 2009, no. 8 descr.: Anthropomorphic stela of beach-rock of slightly tapering rectangular shape, surmounted by an almost square head; the bottom is missing. H. 149 cm; W. at top of shoulders 50 cm; Th. 12 cm. The letters of the inscription, 6-9 cm high and outlined in red, are round, with cursive alphas. The misspellings and confusion of cases are typical of the epitaphs of the el-Huweinat cemetery. 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 Dahari & Di Segni 2009: εὐμοίρει, εὐψύχει, οὐδεὶς ἀθάνατος, “fare thee well, be of good courage, nobody is immortal”, accompanied by the name of the deceased in vocative. Here only, above the inscription, there is a blank strip, where normally a cross would have been engraved: lack of the cross may indicate that the deceased was not a Christian.
Selection criteria	Christian terms/formulas/concepts
Date from	350
Date to	499
Dating criteria	Phrasing and palaeography point to 4th-5th c. according to Dahari & Di Segni 2009.
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 Museum, Shrine of the book 82.2.960; Tel Aviv, Private collection Dayan number unknown. Returned to Egypt in 1993 (present location unknown).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference editions

• 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. 8, with pl.

• Verreth, Herbert. 2006. Northern Sinai from the 7th century BC till the 7th century AD. A Guide to the sources. 2 vol. Leuven, I: 5-Ostrakine, no. 1, p. 400.

Editio princeps

• Lifshitz, B. 1971b. "Inscriptions de Sinaï et de Palestine." Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 7, 151-163 (no. 11: p. 157 with pl. V c).

• Lifshitz, B. 1971a. "Ancient Tombstones in Northern Sinai / מצבות-קבר קדומות מצפון סיני." Qadmoniot: A Journal for the Antiquities of Eretz-Israel and Bible Lands 1 (13), 24-26 (with pl.).

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.

• Pleket, H.W. and Stroud, R.S. 1978. “SEG 28-1465-1468. Bardawil (lake = Lake Serbonis; area of). Tombstones.” In Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Current editors: A. T. E. N. Chaniotis Corsten Stavrianopolou Papazarkadas. Consulted online on 14 July 2021.

• Verreth, Herbert. 1997. "Epigraphic Notes on the Sabkhat Bardawil and el-Arisch Region in the Northern Sinai." Ancient Society 28, 107-119 (esp. 108).

Authors

Valérie Schram, 2021

Suggested citation

Valérie Schram, 2021, "Artefact ID 1289", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/1289

Json data

External links

TM 97436 PHI

Gallery