V 3. Belgorod (?).Inscription on column, IV–VIIth centuries C.E.

Monument

Type

Column. 

Material

Limestone. 

Dimensions (cm)

H.80.0, Diam.50.0.

Additional description

Broken on the top, bottom, and right. 

Place of Origin

Belgorod (?). 

Find place

Belgorod-Dnestrovsky, vicinity (?). 

Find context

Unknown. 

Find circumstances

Before 1848 (?) 

Modern location

Unknown. 

Institution and inventory

Unknown. 

Autopsy

Non vidi. 

Epigraphic field

Position

On the front. 

Lettering

Lapidary (?). Alpha with straight crossbar, beta with flat base of the bottom loop, lunate and rectangular epsilon, kappa with shortened vertical, right-leaning nu. Ligature omicron-upsilon. 

Letterheights (cm)

4.0–5.0.

Text

Category

Uncertain. 

Date

IV–VIIth centuries C.E. 

Dating criteria

Palaeography. 

Editions

Unpublished. 

Edition

Κέο[να? ταύ-]
την τω̣[---]
ΤΟΚΕ.[---]
ὀψαρη[---]
5ἐπέθη[κεν ---]-
βὰν(?) τοῦ Υ[---]-
ρήου τοῦ ν[αυκλήρου (e.g.)]

Diplomatic

ΚΕΟ[.....-]
ΤΗΝΤ.[---]
ΤΟΚΕ·[---]
ΟΨΑΡΗ[---]
5ΕΠΕΘΗ[...---]
ΒΑΝ(?)ΤΟΥΥ[---]
ΡΗΟΥΤΟΥΝ[............]

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/>Κέο<supplied reason="lost" cert="low">να</supplied>
      <supplied reason="lost">ταύ</supplied>
      <lb n="2" break="no"/>την <w part="I">τ<unclear>ω</unclear></w><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
      <lb n="3"/><orig>ΤΟΚΕ</orig><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="character"/><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
      <lb n="4"/><w part="I">ὀψαρη</w><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
      <lb n="5"/>ἐπέθη<supplied reason="lost">κεν</supplied>
      <gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
      <lb n="6" break="no"/><w part="F">βὰν</w><note>?</note> τοῦ
      <seg part="I">Υ</seg><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
      <lb n="7" break="no"/><seg part="F">ρήου</seg>
      τοῦ
      ν<supplied reason="lost">αυκλήρου</supplied> <supplied reason="lost"><note>e.g.</note></supplied>
   </ab>
   </div>

Translation

This column... fish... was set up... [by...]ban (?), son of Y...rios, a c[aptain (?).

 

Commentary

Latyshev (1896, 117, №108) saw this inscription at the Odessa Society of History and Antiquities, but I could not find it in the Odessa Archaeological Museum. Latyshev supposed that a teacher by the name of Afanasiev, who had been known to live in the vicinity of Akkerman, may have brought the column.

1. On the change of i into е, see V 77.

2-4. Only two words can be read unambiguously: ἐπέθη[κεν] "set up" and ὀψαρι[...] "fish...". The first most likely refers to the setting up of the column, and the second indicates some connection with fish. By analogy with V 342, which is a column bearing an inscription about the acquisition of a fishing spot, we could speculate the same function for our monument as well.

A name ending in -ban might have been something like Aban or Karban (V 283), or Banas (CIRB 36), Abanis (CIRB 941), without the ending.

The shapes of alpha, epsilon, and kappa indicate an Early Byzantine date.

 

Images

 Drawing of face 1 (from Latyshev 1896).

(cc)© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
You may download this inscription in EpiDoc XML. (This file should validate to theEpiDoc schema.)