Evidence ID
E03516Saint Name
Archangels (unspecified) : S00191
Michael, the Archangel : S00181Saint Name in Source
ἀρχάνγελος
ἀρχάνγελοςType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Archaeological and architectural - Cult buildings (churches, mausolea)Evidence not before
400Evidence not after
600Activity not before
400Activity not after
600Place of Evidence - Region
Aegean islands and Cyprus
Aegean islands and CyprusPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Ikaria
MiliopoPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Ikaria
Salamis
Σαλαμίς
Salamis
Salamis
Farmagusta
Far
Κωνσταντία
Konstantia
Constantia
Miliopo
Salamis
Σαλαμίς
Salamis
Salamis
Farmagusta
Far
Κωνσταντία
Konstantia
ConstantiaCult activities - Places
Cult building - independent (church)Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildingsCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - bishopsSource
The inscription is carved on a panel of the chancel screen of a church at the site 'Taxiarchis' at Miliopo (the Island of Ikaria). First published by Georgios Deligiannakis in 2015, after photographs and a squeeze. The site had been surveyed by Dimitrios Lazaridis and described in his paper in Αρχαιλογικόν Δελτίον in 1968, but he did not edit the inscription. The inscription was mentioned by Ioannes Melas in 1958, and Themistokles Katsaros in 2006. It was omitted in the volume of the Inscriptiones Graecae (XII 6,2), covering the island of Ikaria.
According to Lazaridis, the church was originally a three-aisled basilica, which after a destruction was restored as a smaller, one-aisled sanctuary. Lazaridis dated its construction to the 5th c.Discussion
The inscription refers to the construction or a restoration of the church. According to Deligiannakis, our text seems to be later than another carved inscription from the same church, which does not use set formulae characteristic of developed Christian epigraphy, so the latter option is more plausible.
Bishop Scholastikos is not otherwise attested. Deligiannakis stresses the importance of this attestation, as, depending on the precise date of the inscription, this may be the first mention of a bishopric on Ikaria.
As for the patron saint, an unnamed Archangel, Deligiannakis suggests that this could have been Michael who is often the patron of churches in Anatolia. Deligiannakis points out that, on the Ionian coast, the cult of Archangels was particularly strong at Miletos.
Dating: based on the shape of letters and the archaeological context, Deligiannakis dates the inscription to the 5th or 6th c.Bibliography
Edition:
Deligiannakis, G., "Εκχριστιανίζοντας τις νησιωτικές κοινότητες του ανατολικού Αιγαίου. Η περίπτωση της νήσου Ικαρίας [Christianizing island communities in the Eastern Aegean. The case of Ikaria]", Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας 36 (2015), 263-274.
Further reading:
Katsaros, Th., Ικαριακά Σύμμεικτα (Athens: , 2006), 184-186 and Fig. 204-209.
Melas, I., Ἱστορία τῆς νήσου Ἰκαρίας, vol. 2 (Athens: J. Melas, 1958), 251, 255.
Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (2016), 560.
