ECG049. Palestine inscription I

Material: Mosaic

Object type: Floor

Text: Four line inscription. First two lines are preserved without any damage. The third one is damaged. Only one letter is visible in the fourth line. The letters are of a red color. w 132 cm

Letters: Mosaic Asomtavruli inscription 11,5-10,5-9

Date: V AD (lettering)

Findspot: პალესტინა, იუდას უდაბნო, წმიდა თეოდორეს სახელობის ქართული მონასტერი Palestine, Judaean Desert. Italian archeologist Virgilio Corbo discovered the ruins of the Georgian monastery named after St. Theodore near Bethlehem in the Judaean Desert, Palestine in 1952-1953 years. Three Georgian inscriptions were found in the ruins.

Original location: პალესტინა, იუდას უდაბნო, წმიდა თეოდორეს სახელობის ქართული მონასტერი

Current repository: Unknown

Last recorded location(s): Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Museum

Summary: Memorial

Editor(s): Giorgi Tsereteli

Changes history: 2019-10-29 Eka Kvirkvelia ტექსტის სრული კოდირება, მეტამონაცემების სრული კოდირება, ბმულებით დაკავშირება ავტორიტეტულ წყაროსთან

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

Interpretive

წმიდაო თეოდორ-
ე მარ[ოჳ]ან და ბო-
[ჳ]რზ(ე)ნ ენ ამი

Diplomatic

ႼႫႨႣႠႭ ႧႤႭႣႭႰ
Ⴄ ႫႠႰ[..]ႠႬ ႣႠ ႡႭ
[.]ႰႦႬ ႤႬ ႠႫႨ

apparatus

Translation

Saint Theodore, Maruan and Burzen…

Commentary

The inscription was first published by Mikheil Tarkhnishvili. He dated this inscription to the VI century according to the paleographic data. According to Giorgi Tsereteli, the date of this inscription is the 30s of the V century. He also suggested that the personal names that are mentioned in the inscription, Maruan and Burzen are a bit different compared to those that were spread in Georgia; for example, in the Georgian Chronicles the Georgian name of Peter the Iberian (V century) was Murvanos and his father’s name was Buzmiri. Shalva Nutsubidze, in his research published in 1959, stated that it is undoubted that the name Murvanos from the Bethlehem inscription is the secular name of Peter the Iberian. He dated the inscription to the V century. Giorgi Tsereteli provided detailed analysis of the Palestine inscriptions and suggested that Peter the Iberian had built the St. Theodore Monastery in the 30s of the V century and embellished it with the Georgian inscriptions where he commemorates the names of himself and his father. But the date suggested by Giorgi Tsereteli has some weak points: it connects the name from the inscription, Maruan to Murvanos. Not to mention the difference in formal representation, it is hardly possible that Peter (who was a priest) would address himself with a secular name. It has also been pointed out that Peter the Iberian visited Palestine later in 437-438 years and not in 429 or 430.

Bibliography:

გიორგი წერეთელი, უძველესი ქართული წარწერები პალესტინიდანbibliography.xmlb67, 94

კორნელი დანელია, ზურაბ სარჯველაძე, ქართული პალეოგრაფიაbibliography.xmlb92, 28-31

Virjilio Corbo, M. Tarchnishvili, „La Terra Santa“bibliography.xmlb32, 181-186

მიხეილ თარხნიშვილი, ახლად აღმოჩენილი ქართველთა მონასტერი ბეთლემშიbibliography.xmlb96

Virjilio Corbo, Gli scavi di Kh. Siyar el-Ghanam (Campo dei Pastori) e i monasteri dei dintornibibliography.xmlb30, 135-140

შალვა ნუცუბიძე, პალესტინის ახალი გათხრები და ქართული კულტურის საკითხებიbibliography.xmlb117

სიმონ ყაუხჩიშვილი, „ქართლის ცხოვრება“bibliography.xmlb109, 061

Besik Khurtsilava, About the old georgian inscriptions from Bir El-Qutt in Jerusalembibliography.xmlb8

Images

   Fig. 1.