Fragment of a roof tile. Dimensions not specified. Found among other broken tiles on the floor of the church. The inscription was written before the tile was hardened in a kiln. Published by Michele Piccirillo in 1992.
+ ὁ θ(εὸ)ς τοῦ ἁ[(γίου) - - -]
"+ O God of Saint [- - -]!'
Text: Piccirillo 1992, 223, no. 74.
Evidence ID
E02570Saint Name
Saints, name wholly or largely lost : S01744Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Inscribed objects
Archaeological and architectural - Cult buildings (churches, mausolea)
Archaeological and architectural - Extant reliquaries and related fixturesEvidence not before
570Evidence not after
800Activity not before
570Activity not after
800Place of Evidence - Region
Arabia
ArabiaPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Umm er-Rasas/Kastron Mefaa
MadabaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Umm er-Rasas/Kastron Mefaa
Sakkaia / Maximianopolis
Σακκαια
Sakkaia
Saccaea
Eaccaea
Maximianopolis
Shaqqa
Schaqqa
Shakka
Madaba
Sakkaia / Maximianopolis
Σακκαια
Sakkaia
Saccaea
Eaccaea
Maximianopolis
Shaqqa
Schaqqa
ShakkaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocationCult Activities - Relics
Reliquary – institutionally ownedSource
The 'Church of the Lions', so named after images of lions shown in the floor-mosaic of the choir, lies in the south sector of the 'ecclesiastical complex'. It was a three-aisled basilica (26.00 m x 15.00 m) with three apses at its east end (attached respectively to the nave and both aisles). The floors of the church are decorated with high quality mosaics showing birds, animals, cities, plants, and floral and geometric motifs. In a period of iconoclasm, many of the figures in the mosaics were carefully removed. The core structure was surrounded by a number of chambers, at least some of them seem to contain burial places. A large paved courtyard is adjacent to the north wall of the church.
Fragments of the casket of a marble reliquary with three cavities were found in the debris in the west sector of the nave. The reliquary was shaped as a small sarcophagus. Fragments of a lid with acroteria were also recorded. The apses at the end of both aisles were fitted with arched niches, presumably for the storage of relics.
The church was excavated by Michele Piccirillo on behalf of the Franciscan Archaeological Institute in Jerusalem between 1989 and 1992. There followed another campaign in 1998.Discussion
The inscription invokes the name of a saint, probably the patron of the church. For a similar inscription on a roof tile from Umm er-Rasas, see: E02566.
Dating: the date of the building inscription for the church can be computed as either 573 or 588, and our roof tile probably comes from the same period. The building was still used as a church in the late 8th c.Bibliography
Edition:
Piccirillo, M., "La chiesa dei Leoni a Umm al-Rasas - Kastron Mefaa", Liber Annuus 42 (1992), 223, no. 74.
Further reading:
Michel, A., Les églises d'époque byzantine et umayyade de Jordanie (provinces d'Arabie et de Palestine), Ve-VIIIe siècle: typologie architecturale et aménagements liturgiques (avec catalogue des monuments; préface de Noël Duval; premessa di Michele Piccirillo) (Bibliothèque de l'Antiquité tardive 2, Turnhout: Brepols, 2001), 403-407, no. 147 (for a description of the church).
Piccirillo, M., "La chiesa di San Paolo a Umm al-Rasas - Kastron Mefaa", Liber Annuus 47 (1997), 390 (mentioned).
Reference works:
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 42, 1492.
