Evidence ID
E01157Saint Name
Archangels (unspecified) : S00191Saint Name in Source
ἀρχάνγελοςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Evidence not before
400Evidence not after
600Activity not before
400Activity not after
600Place of Evidence - Region
Asia MinorPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
IkonionPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Ikonion
Nicomedia
Νικομήδεια
Nikomēdeia
Izmit
Πραίνετος
Prainetos
NicomediaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocationCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
PeasantsSource
Lintel of a church door. Decorated with a carving of a cross pattée in a circle and of an arcade to the right and to the left of the cross. The inscription is carved in two lines, with each letter under an arch (except for the name of the village, which is written in denser script, to fit it on the stone). There is no published detailed description. Found at Sadettinhanı (to the north-east of Ikonion). First mentioned by William Ramsay in 1931; a record of the object is also included in the William Calder Archives (MS 3286), housed in the Special Collections of the University of Aberdeen.Discussion
The inscription contains a request for help for a village, addressed to an archangel. Perhaps the villagers worked on the construction of the church, in which the inscription was originally displayed, or contributed to raising funds for the construction (as in the case of E01080: ἐπληρώθη τὸ ἔργον τῆς Θεοτόκου ἐπὶ Στεφάνου ἐργολάβου ὑπουργήσι τῆς κώμης Σιφῶν / 'The building of the God-Bearer was completed under contractor Stephanos with the assistance of the village of Siphoi').
For a similar request for help for a village, see E00844: ὁ θεὸς τõν ἀρχαγέλον σύνπ[ρ]αξον τοὺς τῆ[ς] κούμης μου πᾶσην / 'O God of the Archangels, help all the inhabitants of my village!' (trans. Al. Cameron), and for a request for help probably for workers building a church, see E00915: κύριος φυλάξι τοὺς ἐργαζομένους ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ ἀρχανγέλου Μιχαήλ/'May the Lord keep those who work (or: minister) at the house of Michael the Archangel!'Bibliography
Edition:
Ramsay, W., "Phrygian orthodox and heretics 400-800 AD", Byzantion 6 (1931), 21.
Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae database, no. 489: http://www.epigraph.topoi.org/ica/icamainapp/inscription/show/489
