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Qasr Ibrim the Greek and Coptic Inscriptions

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Qasr Ibrim the Greek and Coptic Inscriptions QasrIbrim_str 4/15/10 8:26 PM Page 13 QASR IBRIM THE GREEK AND COPTIC INSCRIPTIONS APYROLOGY P URISTIC J OURNAL OF J HE T Supplement XIII QasrIbrim_str 4/15/10 8:26 PM Page 14 WARSAW UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LAW AND ADMINISTRATION CHAIR OF ROMAN AND ANTIQUE LAW WARSAW UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF PAPYROLOGY THE RAPHAEL TAUBENSCHLAG FOUNDATION THE JOURNAL OF JURISTIC PAPYROLOGY Supplements SERIES EDITORS TOMASZ DERDA JAKUB URBANIK VOLUME XIII QasrIbrim_str 4/15/10 8:26 PM Page 15 QASR IBRIM THE GREEK AND COPTIC INSCRIPTIONS PUBLISHED ON BEHALF OF THE EGYPT EXPLORATION SOCIETY APYROLOGY BY P ADAM ¸AJTAR JACQUES VAN DER VLIET URISTIC J OURNAL OF J HE T Supplement XIII WARSAW 2010 rz04_redaction:rz04_redaction 12-01-20 16:39 Page IV Supplements to The Journal of Juristic Papyrology are jointly published by the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, the Insti- tute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, and Fundacja im. Rafała Taubenschlaga, Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00–927 Warszawa 64 tel. (+48 22) 55 22 815 and (+48 22) 55 20 384, fax: (+48 22) 55 24 319 e-mails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] web-page: <http://www.taubenschlagfoundation.org> Cover design by Maryna Wiśniewska Computer design and DTP by Tomasz Derda and Grzegorz Ochała Proofreader Tomasz Płóciennik © for the book by Adam Łajtar, Jacques van der Vliet, and Fundacja im. Rafała Taubenschlaga Warszawa 2010 This publication has been published with financial support from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland and the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw. ISBN 978–83–925919–2–4 Wydanie I. Druk i oprawa: Drukarnia Duo Studio, Warszawa 02_contents:Ochala 12-01-20 16:40 Page V TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . ix INTRODUCTION . 3 NOTE ON THE PRESENT EDITION . 11 NON-FUNERARY INSCRIPTIONS (1–17) . 15 FUNERARY INSCRIPTIONS (18–92) . 53 18–26. Bishops’ epitaphs . 53 27–90. Other epitaphs . 108 27. Epitaph of the type ‘So-and-so died’ – 108; 28. Epitaph of the type ‘here lie the remains’ – 110; 29–37. Epitaphs of the type prp- meeue/ja prpmeeue – 113; 38–39. Epitaphs of the type kata tapovasis – 142; 40. Epitaph of the ‘Totenklage’-type – 151; 41–52. Epitaphs of the pronoia-type in Greek and Coptic – 157; 53–54. Greek epitaphs with the formula neÊsei ka‹ boulÆsei (keleÊsei) – 188; 55–56. Greek epitaphs of uncertain types – 192; 57–59. Greek epitaphs with the prayer ‘God of the spirits’ – 200; 60–90. Fragmentary epitaphs – 217. 91–92. Inscribed tombs . 261 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 281 INDICES . 301 CONCORDANCES . 327 REGISTER OF FINDSPOTS . 335 03_acknowledgements:03_GO 12-01-20 16:41 Page VII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS his book could not have been written without the generous Thospitality and the efficient support of Pamela J. Rose, former head of the archaeological mission of the Egypt Exploration Society in Qasr Ibrim. We thank her most warmly for receiving us in Cambridge, where the archive of the mission was stored till quite recently, and for patiently bearing with our queries and requests. We furthermore thank the Egypt Exploration Society, London, for allowing us to study their material in all freedom and to publish it here, and like to mention in particular Patricia Spencer, Christopher Naunton, Paul T. Nicholson, and John Tait. Many more colleagues helped us in one way or another in the comple- tion of our manuscript. Joost L. Hagen, Leiden, who conducted his own research on the Coptic texts from Qasr Ibrim parallel to ours, accompa- nied us in Cambridge and undertook an important number of verifica- tions in both British and Egyptian museums. Karen Exell, of the Univer- sity of Manchester Museum, and Phil Watson, of the Birmingham City Museum, provided us with information about the pieces kept in their col- lections. Bill Adams, Lexington KY, generously shared his incomparable knowledge of medieval Qasr Ibrim with us. For information and discus- sion on various points we are indebted to Stefan Jakobielski and Włodzimierz Godlewski in Warsaw, Klaas A. Worp in Leiden, and Ewa D. Zakrzewska in Amsterdam. Renate Dekker, Leiden, prepared the Coptic indices. Charles Slender, San Francisco, and Harold Hays, Leiden, revised the English of the Greek and the Coptic parts of the book respec- tively. Giovanni Ruffini, New York, and Tomasz Płóciennik, Warsaw, looked through the final version of the manuscript, and made a number 03_acknowledgements:03_GO 12-01-20 16:41 Page VIII VIII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of important corrections and observations. Dobrochna Zielińska, War- saw, processed the photos. To all of them we like to extend our most sin- cere thanks. Finally our gratitude goes to the editors of the JJP Supplement series who accepted our book for publication and carefully saw it through all the stages of its production. We are especially grateful to Grzegorz Ochała, who not only undertook the uneasy task of editing the manu- script, but also suggested a number of improvements. The publication of this book was partly financed by the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Poland. For supporting the application for a ministerial grant, The Raphael Taubenschlag Foundation and the authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Ewa Laskowska-Kusztal and Prof. Dr. Włodzimierz Godlewski. 04_abbreviations:04_GO 12-01-20 16:41 Page IX LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS bbreviations for editions of Greek papyri follow J. F. Oates et alii, AChecklist of Editions of Greek and Latin Papyri, Ostraca and Tablets, 4th ed., Atlanta 1992 [= Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists Supple- ment 7], with later supplements (available on-line at <http://scriptorium. lib.duke.edu/papyrus/texts/clist.html>). In addition, the following are used: AE = R. Cagnat, A. Merlin et alii, L’Année épigraphique, initially pub- lished in Révue archéologique, later in form of independent volumes. ‘Bull. épigr.’ = Jeanne & L. Robert et alii, ‘Bulletin épigraphique’, [in:] Revue des Études Grecques (see under particular years). IG = Inscriptiones Graecae, Berlin 1903ff. IGLSyr = Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, Beyrouth, later Paris 1929ff. MAMA = Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua, Manchester 1928ff. PG = J.-P. Migne (ed.), Patrologiae cursus completus, series Graeca, i-clxi, Paris 1857–66. SEG = J. E. Hondius et alii, Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, later Amsterdam 1923ff. 05_introduction:05_GO 12-01-20 16:42 Page 3 INTRODUCTION his book contains the publication of the Greek and Coptic Tinscriptions that were brought to light during archaeological work on the site of Qasr Ibrim (Egyptian Nubia) carried out by the Egypt Explo- ration Society from 1963 onwards.1 It does not include earlier epigraphic finds,2 even though they are constantly referred to. Most of these earlier finds fall into three distinct groups. The first consists of eight or nine inscriptions, which Georg Steindorff obtained in Qasr Ibrim in the spring of 1900, and which subsequently became part of the collection of the Egyptian Museum of Leipzig University. Their publication by Tonio Sebastian Richter is forthcoming.3 The second group was discovered dur- ing the so-called second Nubian campaign in the 1930s, and was included almost entirely in the first volume of Ugo Monneret de Villard’s opus mag- num, La Nubia medioevale.4 The third group consists of six stelae found by 1 It is impossible to give the full bibliography of the excavations here. In addition to some important monographs (Adams 1996; Rose et alii 2007) and publications of textual finds (Plumley 1975c; Plumley & Browne 1988; Browne 1989 and 1991; Hinds & Sakkout 1986), the reports that appeared in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology remain indispensable. 2 With the exception of a single inscription recorded by Richard Lepsius in the 1840s, republished below under no. 2. 3 To appear as part of the catalogue of the Egyptian Museum of Leipzig University. Pre- liminarily see Richter 1999, and the same in Catalogue Hamm: 131, no. 90a–b, and Krauspe 1997: 132; see also Felber et alii 2000. It is unknown what happened to the ‘Cop- tic steles’ that were found in the medieval cemetery located ‘in the bay to the north of the fortress’ by D. Randall-MacIver and A. E. P. Weigall in 1906 or 1907 (see Weigall 1907: 121, n. 1). 4 Monneret de Villard 1935–57: i, 112–15; see additionally Monneret de Villard 1931: 7–10; van der Vliet 2006: 219–23. 05_introduction:05_GO 12-01-20 16:42 Page 4 4 INTRODUCTION Walter B. Emery during his excavations of mainland cemeteries in autumn 1961. Their publication, by Edmund S. Meltzer, appeared in Anthony J. Mills’ 1982 report on Emery’s work.5 An isolated stela that sur- faced in commerce in the 1960s was published by Gesa Schenke in 2000.6 Almost without exception, these earlier finds are funerary stelae inscribed in Coptic. Another category of inscriptions that is not included in the present publication are the graffiti that can be found on various locations in or near Qasr Ibrim, in particular in the Cathedral,7 in the Church on the Point8 and on the so-called Gebel Maktub, a hill-top site east of Qasr Ibrim.9 The historically important graffiti of the latter site will be published separately by the present authors. A vast majority of the ninety-two inscriptions published below are funerary in nature (nos. 18–92). The heterogeneous group of seventeen non-funerary texts is composed of building or dedication inscriptions (nos. 1 and 2, perhaps also 3 and 4), signatures (nos. 5 and 6), apotropaica (nos. 7–9), two legal documents (an ecclesiastical ban and a deed of dona- tion, nos. 10 and 11, respectively), a visitor’s inscription (no.
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