Evidence ID
E01212Saint Name
Polycarp, bishop and martyr, and other martyrs in Smyrna, ob. 2nd c. : S00004Saint Name in Source
ΠολύκαρποςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Inscribed architectural elements
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Evidence not before
400Evidence not after
1300Activity not before
400Activity not after
1300Place of Evidence - Region
Aegean islands and Cyprus
Aegean islands and CyprusPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Lesbos
MytilenePlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Lesbos
Salamis
Σαλαμίς
Salamis
Salamis
Farmagusta
Far
Κωνσταντία
Konstantia
Constantia
Mytilene
Salamis
Σαλαμίς
Salamis
Salamis
Farmagusta
Far
Κωνσταντία
Konstantia
ConstantiaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Other lay individuals/ peopleSource
The inscription is engraved facing downwards, on the inner surface of an arch, in the basilica of St Polycarp, located in the southern suburb of Mytilene (Lesbos, the Aegean Islands). There is no detailed description of the inscription's dimensions. Seen and copied by Seraphim Charitonidis between 1960 and 1964.Discussion
The inscription is an invocation of Polykarpos, bishop and martyr of Smyrna (ob. 2nd c., S00004). As Lesbos lies just opposite Smyrna, we can suppose that his cult on the island developed because of the vicinity of the tomb of the martyr.
Polykarpos is not a saint frequently referred to in dedicatory inscriptions and invocations from Anatolia and the Cyclades, but an inscription from Ephesos (see: E00708) may prove that the bishops of Smyrna used him to assert their peculiar ecclesiastical status, as Polykarpow was said to have been a disciple of *John the Apostle and Evangelist, and thus an inheritor of his extraordinary, mystical knowledge.
The invocation from Mytilene is, unfortunately, very fragmentarily preserved. Charitonidis completed the word appearing after the name of the saint as κλῆρος (in the plural form), which may refer either to 'clergy', for whom the aid of the saint is sought, or to 'lands' placed under the protection of the saint, i.e. the whole province, city, or specific estates owned by the church. The invocation ends with a request for protection for a certain man or for a group, perhaps even the mentioned clerics, as the pronoun αὐτόν could be read as a misspelt plural form: αὐτõν.Bibliography
Edition:
Charitonidis, S., Παλαιοχριστιανικὴ τοπογραφία τῆς Λέσβου, ΑΡΧΑΙΟΛΟΓΙΚΟΝ ΔΕΛΤΙΟΝ 23 (1968) ΜΕΡΟΣ Α' - ΜΕΛΕΤΑΙ, 21.
Further reading:
Kiourtzian, G., "Pietas insulariorum", [in:] Eupsychia: mélanges offerts à Hélène Ahrweiler, vol. 2 (Série Byzantina Sorbonensia 16, Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1998), 376.
Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (1969), 421.