Evidence ID
E00563Saint Name
Kyros and Iōannēs, physician martyrs in Egypt, ob. early 4th c. : S00406Saint Name in Source
Κύρος, ἸωάννηςType of Evidence
Literary - PoemsEvidence not before
600Evidence not after
1000Activity not before
600Activity not after
1000Place of Evidence - Region
Constantinople and region
Egypt and CyrenaicaPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Constantinople
AlexandriaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Constantinople
Constantinople
Κωνσταντινούπολις
Konstantinoupolis
Constantinopolis
Constantinople
Istanbul
Alexandria
Hermopolis
ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ
Ashmunein
HermopolisMajor author/Major anonymous work
Greek AnthologyCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Bequests, donations, gifts and offeringsCult Activities - Miracles
Healing diseases and disabilities
Miracle after deathCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Physicians
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermitsCult Activities - Cult Related Objects
Ex-votosSource
The Greek Anthology is a collection of Greek epigrams from dating from the Archaic period to the 9th century AD. It was initially compiled by Meleager of Megara (100-90 BC), whose collection was edited and expanded by Philip of Thessalonica (under Nero), Agathias of Myrina (AD 567/8) and finally by Konstantinos Kephalas (c. AD 900).
The word epigram literally means an inscription. Although most Greek inscriptions were in prose, the word came to be specifically connected to those written in verse, and eventually to include poetic texts which were not necessarily inscribed. From the earliest period of Greek literature, epigrams were mostly sepulchral or dedicatory: they either memorialised the dead or marked the dedication of an object to a god.
Book 1 of the Greek Anthology contains Christian epigrams from Late Antiquity to the 9th century. It was compiled c. 880-900, containing a considerable number of poems copied directly from monuments. The scholar responsible for the transcriptions may have been Gregorios Magistros, a colleague of Kephalas. Epigrams 1-17 and possibly others were taken down from inscriptions at Constantinople and two of them, namely No. 1 (inscription from the bema arch of St. Sophia) and No. 10 (inscription from the church of St. Polyeuktos) have been found in situ, thus confirming the accuracy of the entries in the Anthology.Discussion
This epigram was probably written as a dedicatory colophon on a book containing the Miracles of Kyros and Iōannēs (Cyrus and John) by Sophronius of Jerusalem (see E###). During his stay in Alexandria, in the company of John Moschos in c. AD 580, Sophronius was afflicted by blindness and was cured after a visit to the shrine of Kyros and Iōannēs in Menuthis. In c. 610, he composed and dedicated the book of miracles as a votive offering for his own cure. The identity of the composer of the epigram, Senekas the iatrosophistēs (‘medical scholar’), and its precise date are unknown.Bibliography
Edition and Translation:
Paton, W.R., rev. Tueller, M.A., The Greek Anthology, Books 1-5, 2nd ed. (Loeb Classical Library; London, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2014).
Other editions:
Beckby, H., Anthologia Graeca (Munich: Ernst Heimeran Verlag, 1957).
Conca, F., Marzi, M., and Zanetto, G., Antologia Palatina. 3 vols. Vol. 1 (Classici Greci; Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 2005).
Waltz, P., Anthologie Grecque (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1928).
Further reading on the Greek Anthology:
Cameron, A., The Greek Anthology: From Meleager to Planudes (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993).
