New Christian Epitaphs from the Fayum

Keywords

Stelae, Epitaphs, Provenance, Papyrus, Christianity, Naming conventions, Curators, Cataloging, Bibliographic records

Abstract

On a recent visit to Egypt in February of 2014 as part of the Brigham Young University excavation in the Fayum we were shown some unpublished inscriptions in the storage magazine at Kom Aushim (Karanis) by the curator Mustafa F. Hemeida. Two of the inscriptions particularly caught our attention since they were Greek epitaphs and were clearly Christian because they contained distinct Christian markers such as cross- es and nomina sacra . With the permission of the curator we present here editions of these two inscriptions. Regrettably, however, very little can be said by way of introduction about the discovery and background of the two pieces since the catalogue records at the Kom Aushim Magazine say very little about them; in fact, the catalogue records do not even preserve the dates of acquisition or their provenance.2 Though it might be assumed that they must have come from Karanis, the site of the storage magazine, this cannot be estab- lished; however, it seems safe to assume Fayumic provenance for both pieces since all of the provenanced inscriptions in the storage magazine have come from the Fayum. Furthermore, both inscriptions share some specific parallels with other Christian epitaphs known to have come from the Fayum, which lends additional support to Fayumic prov

Original Publication Citation

“New Christian Epitaphs from the Fayum.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 193 (2015): 202–206 (with contributions by Mohamed Hussen).

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2015

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/6263

Publisher

JSTOR

Language

English

College

Religious Education

Department

Ancient Scripture

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS