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MOULTON : INSCRIPTIONS FROM BIR ES-SEBA .
^95
Inscriptions from Bir es-Seba.
DR. WARREN J. MOULTON.
NEW HAVEN, CONN.
WHILE visiting Bir es-Seba' in the month of April of the
present year we photographed several Greek inscriptions
which, up to that time, had
not been published. Since
then they have appeared, to-
gether with photographs of
the squeezes taken by the Do-
minicans of Jerusalem, in the
Revue Bibliqiie (April and
July, 1903). In spite of this
anticipation, it will be seen
that our photographs of the
originals still possess sufficient
value for purposes of study to
warrant their publication, and,
furthermore, in the case of the
mortuary inscriptions, I am
able to advance some sugges-
tions for the elucidation of
more obscure points. All
these inscriptions, like those
previously published from Bir es-Seba*, in all probability came from
the ruins to the east of the present village which has so recently
sprung up. All the ground there has been very thoroughly over-
hauled in the search for building material to be used in the struc-
tures of the new settlement. The careless and destructive way in
which the digging has been carried on is shown by the many frag-
ments of marble, some of them of considerable size, which are strewn
about.
Pl. I.
196 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
^ANGTTAH
OMAKAPIOr Aveird-q 6 juaKapLos UpOKOwLo^ iv
ivS{LKTL(x)VO<s) 0'
TTPOKOTTIOC
eNMHAUUOY
K TOY^O^ The blessed Procopius died on the
p-rOVC ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ month Loos of the year
INAre^*
576, indiction ix.
This inscription is on a slab of gray marble about i foot 10
inches high and 11^ inches wide. The letters are carefully and
distinctly cut. The form avcTrayy often appears in funerary inscrip-
tions. Possibly it may be regarded as the abbreviation of dv€7rdrj cV
Twv fi6)(9(x)v or KOTTwv} A(i)ov is a mistake of the stone-cutter for
Aojov. The character g- appears in a twofold significance in this
inscription : in line 5 as the numeral 6, and in the last line as a sign
of punctuation.^ The date is given as year 576, indiction ix. As
the era of Eleutheropolis (199 a.d.) is known to be used in some of
the inscriptions from Bir es-Seba'/ it is natural to expect it here ; but
it is seen at once that the computation is not made on this basis.
Father Abel therefore concludes that the reference must be to the
Christian era {Revue Biblique, 1903, p. 427). This would, to be
sure, give us indiction ix., and hkewise assign the inscription to
about the period to which we expect it to belong. Such a use of the
Christian era is, however, so far as I know, without parallel at this
early time in Syria, and therefore highly improbable here. I would
suggest, accordingly, that it is more likely that we have the era of
Gaza, namely, Oct. 28, 61 B.C.'* Reckoning on this basis, the date
of Procopius' death would be Aug. 13, 516 a.d., and this also gives
us the indiction ix.^ Possibly further evidence of the use of the era
of Gaza at Bir es-Seba* may be found as new inscriptions are brought
to light.
1 See Rev. 14^^; and cf. Clermont-Ganneau, Archaeological Researches, ii,
408 sqq. Note also the suggestion of a possible connection of /xaKdpios with the
Egyptian makheru.
2 On these two uses, and on a further possible use as a conjunction, see
PEFy QS. 1902, pp. 2']Osqq,; RevUe Biblique, 1903, p. 277.
^ See Revue Biblique, 1902, pp. ^'^'j sqq., 1903, pp. 2745'^.
^ See Clermont-Ganneau, Archaeological Researches, ii. ^K^sqq.
^ Cf. the inscription given by Clermont-Ganneau, l.c. p. 402, which is dated
the 22d of L5os, indiction iv., year 571.
MOULTON : INSCRIPTIONS FROM BIR ES-SEBA .
197
This inscription and those which follow were in the Serai, or
Government House, at the time of our visit. It is cut on a marble
slab about i foot io| inches by i foot "j^ inches, and 3 inches thick.
Pl. 2.
'Ei/^aSe Kctrat 17 jxaKapta Noi/va
HhC N0AAe K ITA I H MA l^Tecjydvov MX-qaCa, KaTerW-q Sc h
KAPIANONNACTe<t>ANOY M^i}) n€pt(Ttoi;) i^' tV8(iKTi(o-
AIAHCIAKATeTH0HAe ''''^) ''
G N M H NTTG PITc- fB Here lies the blessed Nonna Ailesia,
daughter of Stephanus. She was laid
away on the 12th of Peritios of indie-
INArl
Both names are common. The only difficulty is with PuX-qaia,
Another sepulchral inscription, which is said to have come from Bir
es-Seba* and is now in the Turkish museum at Jerusalem, has PuXtj-
<no<s after the name Kaioumos {PEF, QS, 1903, p. 172; Revue
Biblique, 1903, pp. 2745"^.). Mr. Macalister refers to this inscription
as commemorating "the blessed Kaioumos of Jerusalem,** without
further comment. It would seem that he associates the adjective
with AtAtix (Aelia Capitolina), the name given to Jerusalem by
Hadrian, and long employed as its official designation. I incline
to the opinion cautiously advanced by Father Vincent, that the gen-
tile adjective may be connected with the Old Testament Elath (LXX.
AtAa^, AiXa/jL, etc.). In Greek authors the place is commonly called
AtAam, with the gentile adjective AlXavtrrj^ ; but 'AtAa or 'AtAas is
also found (Eusebius, in Lagarde, Onomastica Sacra, 21O79; Proco-
pius, Philostorgius, ^/.), from which an adjective AtAr/o-tos might be
derived. The geographical considerations favor this suggestion. In
the Roman period Elath was a place of considerable importance.
198 JOURNAL O^ BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
It was garrisoned by a Roman legion, and the seat of a Christian
bishop. Its next important neighbor on the north, in Western
Palestine, would be Bir es-Seba*.
The year of Nonna's death is not given, and we can say nothing
certain further than that she died on the loth of February of the
tenth year of an indiction. Father Abel, on the ground of a strong
epigraphic similarity of the two inscriptions, as well as of the unusual
gentile adjectives Ailesios, Ailesia, which they have in common, com-
bines the epitaph of Nonna with that of Kaioumos, and thus fixes
the date of her death in 547 a.d.
3. The small fragment leaning against the last inscription is evi-
dently from some tombstone. The letters are of the same style as
those just considered. The fragment is about 8 inches by 10. The
probable reading is
AIOY I MovC
THCr INA ... tt^s r tv8(tKTta}vo9)
The date would thus be the loth of Dios, or Nov. 6. But for the
pause, one might suggest Trpwrrys ti/8tKTtwi/os for the last line, since
similar expressions have been found.
4. tAATOY o-aATo[i;]
YAOYTOY-l-ePO [h-]o^Xov roi) Upop]
»
|0NIAN0YCAAT0\1^ [t]onavo. craAroM
r mm r
BIKAPIOCAGYTePr piK6.pio<i Sei^Tep{o^)
COTTPOBMAOMe NOC o- o 7rpo^<aA>Ao>i/og
Bl N0OYATTOTUJN pivOov dirb rwv
N V
AHAUJN 877X0)1/
UJN 0)1/
The fragment on the right in the photograph bears letters which
are sharply, although rather irregularly, cut, and, except in two or
three instances, are legible beyond all doubt. This piece of marble
is about I foot 9 inches high, i foot i inch wide, and 3 inches
thick. Evidently it was broken away from the lower part of a much
moulton: inscriptions from bir es-seba*. 199
larger tablet. The style of the letters and the contents lead us at
once to connect it with another, larger fragment from Bir es-Seba
which has already been published.^ This contained parts of two
columns, and Professor Clermont-Ganneau concluded from his study
of them that the inscription was an official document, possibly an
imperial decree regarding the taxes to be levied for the support of
military and administrative officials. His hope that other parts of
the tablet might be brought to light seems to be in part fulfilled
by this new fragment, although the relation, not to say the connec-
tion, of the two pieces is not yet established. The present fragment
may belong to another column lower down in the tablet. The letters
are those of the Byzantine epoch. From comparison with the photo-
graph of the squeeze of the fragment previously found, they seem, if
anything, more irregular. It is noticeable that in lines 4, 6, and 7
we have the rounded sigma (C), whereas in the first fragment this
letter is always square (C), as here, in lines i(?) and 7. Further,
ov are in no instance joined where they occur in lines 2, 4, and 8, as
might be expected from the frequent hgature in the other fragment.
On the other hand, in the arrangement of the Hnes, in the use of the
title Vicarius (line 6), and in the suggestions of other words, we have
strong evidence that the two fragments belong to the same inscrip-
tion. Further study, with the aid that may at any time come from
new discoveries, will probably make this clear.
5. ETTITA^IA^^TTP
eKTIC0HTOcJ>AeAPAO
MeTTIOYGeiOYCTOY
mr
\* i4>opepocoiKOAe
MNHCGHOYPANICeVTYXe
TYrXANeiMHTPOTTOAei
This inscription, on the left in the photograph, is badly defaced,
portions being entirely illegible. The block of limestone in which it
is cut is about 2 feet 2 inches by i foot 3I inches, and about 6|
inches thick, the raised portion in the middle being about 9^^ inches
wide. Clearly as certain words seem at first sight to stand out, I am
6 PEF, QS. 1902, pp. 26g sq.y cf. also p. 236; Recueil d' Archeologie Orientaky
V. pp. iTpsqq. ; Revue Biblique, .1903, pp. 2'j^sqq.
200 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
not able as yet to suggest any interpretation. I will add the com-
ment of Father Abel in the Revue Biblique (1903, p. 429), which
may be taken for what it is worth ; '^ L'inscription, d^couverte par le
P. Level dans un chantier de fouilles assez voisin de Tun des anciens
puits, est int^ressante par le mention qu'elle fait de la creation d'un
puits."
