Evidence ID
E00891Saint Name
Michael, the Archangel : S00181
Gabriel, the Archangel : S00192
Raphaēl, the Archangel : S00481
Istrael : S00690Saint Name in Source
Μιχαήλ
Γαβριήλ
Ῥαφαήλ
ἸστραήλType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Evidence not before
400Evidence not after
650Activity not before
400Activity not after
650Place of Evidence - Region
Asia MinorPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
HierapolisPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Hierapolis
Nicomedia
Νικομήδεια
Nikomēdeia
Izmit
Πραίνετος
Prainetos
NicomediaCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocationSource
A slab found by William Mitchell Ramsay in 1888 at Thiounta, near Hierapolis (Phrygia, central Asia Minor). Ramsay gives no description of the object.Discussion
The inscription begins with an invocation of God, followed by five letters alpha and the names of four archangels. Ramsay supposed that the alphas stood for five abbreviated words ἅγιος and that each of them should have corresponded to an archangel, so one of the figures was missing. One can, however, interpret them as quasi-magical invocations or erroneously enumerated vowels corresponding to heavenly spheres that were often associated with archangels. For a similar case, see E00810 (Miletos, Caria / Karia, western Asia Minor).Bibliography
Edition:
Ramsay, W.M., Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, vol. 1, part 2: West and West-Central Phrygia (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1897), 541, no. 404.
Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae database, no. 1117: http://www.epigraph.topoi.org/ica/icamainapp/inscription/show/1117
Further reading:
Halkin, F., "Inscriptions grecques relatives à l'hagiographie, IX, Asie Mineure", Analecta Bollandiana 71 (1953), 330-331.
