The Archaeological Exploration of Sardis

Inscribed Architectural Slab (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Inscribed Architectural Slab: Sepulchral mounument invoking the curse of the 318 Fathers of the Nicaea Council

Monograph 14: Sardis: Greek and Latin Inscriptions, Part II: Finds from 1958 to 2017 (2019) Cat. 708

Date

8th–10th century AD (Feissel)., Byzantine

Sardis or Museum Inv. No.

IN61.030

Material

Marble, Stone

Object Type

Inscription

Inscription Type

Funerary Inscription

Inscription language

Greek

Inscription Text

		† Δέον γηνόσκι(ν),
		ὅτι ὁ ἔχας με
		μεταθέσιν ἀπὸ
	4	‹ὧ›δε ἵνα ἔχι κατάραν
		τõν τριακοσίων
		δέκα κὲ ὀκτὼ πα-
		τέρων τὸ ἀνάθεμα.

Inscription Translation

“One must know that whoever will have moved me from here shall be cursed by the curse of the 318 Fathers (of Nicaea Council),” after Feissel: “Il faut savoir que celui qui m’aura déplacé d’ici, qu’il ait en malédiction l’anathème des 318 Pères (de Nicée).”

Inscription Comment

Findspot

“Said to have been found in 1952–53 in building of modern highway, south of the Byzantine Church ruin D.”; reading and translation from a photograph: D. Feissel (per litt.).

Description

Slab of marble, originally inserted in an architectural context; lower left corner broken. “Back rough chiseled, lower ‘Band’ around 3 sides” (excavation record); on the rear are two oblong holes (a small and a large one). The inscription has been superficially deleted; reading and translation from a photograph: D. Feissel (per litt.).

Dimensions

H. 0.96, W. 0.86, max. Th. 0.09.

Comments

2–3 “La périphrase verbale ὁ ἔχας με μεταθέσιν (= ὁ ἔχων με μεταθήσειν) est un vulgarisme remarquable” (Feissel).

4–7 For the rather common formula mentioning the curse of the 318 Fathers of Nicaea, see D. Feissel, ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ 32 (1980), p. 383.

“Brilliantly read by L. + J. Robert Aug. 18. A sepulchral monument(;) whosoever violates it after burial (thesis) shall be cursed by the curse of the 318 Fathers (of Nicaea Council)…” (excavation record).

See Also

Bibliography

Unpublished; reading and translation from a photograph: D. Feissel (per litt.).

Author

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