Evidence ID
E01038Saint Name
John the Evangelist : S00042
John the Baptist : S00020Saint Name in Source
Ἰουάνης
ἸουάνηςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptionsEvidence not before
500Evidence not after
600Activity not before
500Activity not after
600Place of Evidence - Region
Asia MinorPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Diokaisareia in IsauriaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Diokaisareia in Isauria
Nicomedia
Νικομήδεια
Nikomēdeia
Izmit
Πραίνετος
Prainetos
NicomediaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergySource
The lid of a sarcophagus in an arcosolium grave. Found on the eastern slope of the so-called Tomb Valley (Nord E71) near Uzuncaburç (ancient Diokaisareia). Letter height 0.06-0.08 m. Recorded in 1925; revisited by an international expedition led by Detlev Wannagat and Kai Trampedach between 2004 and 2006.Discussion
The inscription is the epitaph for a presbyter of a church dedicated to a Saint John. Though the identity of the patron saint is not specified, he is likely to have been John the Baptist, as his cult was a much more popular in eastern Asia Minor than that of John the Evangelist.
Dating: probably 6th c., based on the form of the letters.Bibliography
Edition:
Linnemann, J.C., Die Nekropolen von Diokaisareia (Diokaisareia in Kilikien 3, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2013), 132.
Hagel, St., Tomaschitz, K., (eds.), Repertorium der westkilikischen Inschriften (Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Denkschriften der philosophisch-historischen Klasse 265, Ergänzungsbände zu den Tituli Asiae Minoris 22, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1998), no. OlD 66.
Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua III, no. 88.
Further reading:
Mietke, G., "Monumentalisierung christilcher Heiliger in Kilikien in frühbyzantinischer Zeit", Olba 17 (2009), 121.