ECG015. Greek inscription on a silver dish from Armaziskhevi

Material: Silver

Object type: Platter

Decoration:

The foot of the dish has some letters scratched that are not Greek. P. Ingorokva considered them to be Georgian.

Text: The silver dish with engraved Greek inscription around its foot in a dotted way. The inscription does not engage the circle.

Letters:

Letters are round and done with beautiful handwriting.

Date: II-III AD (lettering)

Findspot: არმაზისხევი The dish was found in Armaziskhevi, in a so-called Bersuma graveyard.

Original location: Armaziskhevi

Last recorded location(s): National Museum of Georgia ა40/III1

Text type:Unknown

Editor(s): Tinatin Kaukhchishvili

Publication details:Ilia State University, Institute of Linguistic Studies; დოკუმენტი ვრცელდება Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 ლიცენზიით.

Translation (ka)

მე, მეფე ფლავიოს დადესმა მივუძღვენ ბერსუმა პიტიახშს (ეს ლანგარი). მაკედონს

Translation (English)

I, King Flavios Dades, gave this to Bersuma Bidaxsh.

Commentary

According to the shape of the letters ( α with broken crossbar, ε, σ, ω, μ, β - round, ξ is peculier), abbreviation (Φ˘Λ), representing the names ended on ιος with ις - characteristic to Roman period (Μακεδόνι), the inscription can be given the date to the I century. On the basis of the dating of the other items that were found in the graveyard, the dish (and its inscription) can be dated to II-III c. Μακεδόνι should be the dative case form for the name Μακεδών or Μακεδόνις, that means that as the item was dedicated to Bersuma, and also it was designated for Makrdonis. Μακεδόνι, as we see, is written with completely different handwriting, thus, it is necessary to give these inscriptions two different dates. They might be of the same period but different style. Not only in the inscription but also in the scratched writing we see A that only appears at the beginning of A.D. and is spread in I-II c. Towards the main Greek inscription notable components are: abbreviation ΦΛ and lacking the ι subscriptum in dative case. In terms of shaping the letters, the tendency of round letters is notable. Abbreviation represented with ˘ . The shape of ξ is common for I century, same can be said about the other letters. According to those features the inscription can be given 1st century AD. The grave itself can not be earlier than 251 according to the coins found in it. The Greek inscription can be of the same time (beginning of the III century or end of II century). The person who dedicates the item is Flavios Dades, owner - Bersuma Bidaxsh. Macedon is either the second name of Bersuma, or Bersuma is the later owner of the item. The names of historic people from Iberia are notable: Kind Dades has an additional name from the Flavius dynasty, that was given to those who were regarded as honorable by this family. Flavius and Macedon are Greco-Roman names. Bersuma is Syrian (= a son of who was fasting), the names with the root Dades are common in the entire mediterranean region, there are different versions of its origin (Iranian, Greek…). The name “Bersuma” (given to Bidaxsh) was unknown for Georgian context before discovering this inscription. It is a Syrian name Bar Saumā that means “the son of who is fasting”. As we see the Georgian Bidaxshes are called by the names of different origins (Bersuma, Aspavruki, Publikios Agripa…), but that does not mean that the person with this name was a foreigner. P. Ingorokva considers the name “Bersuma” as “Bertsuma” (based on the analogy of ancient Georgian names “Bertsomi” and “Baratsmani”, but the etymology of those two, “Bertsomi” and “Baratsmani” is unclear in itself). The name “Bersuma” is also common to Greek: Βαρσουμᾶς. Thus, Syrian Bar Saumā (with aspirate s) is represented in Greek as Βερσουμᾶς || Βερσουμᾶς.

Bibliography

საუერი, 1931 თინათინ ყაუხჩიშვილი, საქართველოს ბერძნული წარწერების კორპუსი, 267–268

ყაუხჩიშვილი, 1951 თინათინ ყაუხჩიშვილი, ბერძნული წარწერები საქართველოში, 264–266

Images

   Fig. 1. Silver tray from Armaziskhevi, 1940