ECG067. Bolnisi Sioni Cathedral epitaph of Ioane the bishop of Bolnisi and memorial of Shushanik

Material: Green Stone

Object type: Plaque

Dimensions: w 27,5 x h 57 cm

Text: Seven line inscription. The plaque is of the same stone as Bolnisi cathedral is built with. On the upper part of side 1 of the plaque there is embossed “Bolnisi Cross” embedded in a medallion, four lines are engraved below it. Three other lines are carved on the side 2 of the plaque. w 17 x h 26 cm w 16 x h 21 cm

Letters: Engraved Asomtavruli inscription 4-6

Date: IX AD

Findspot: Bolnisi Sioni Bolnisi Sioni Cathedral is located in Kvemo Kartli, 9 km away from city Bolnisi to the south, 1 km distance from the village Bonis-Khachini. The inscription was discovered during the archaeological expedition held by the Cultural Heritage Preservation Committee supervised by Levan Muskhelishvili in 1937.

Original location: Bolnisi Sioni

Current repository: Unknown

Last recorded location(s): National Museum of Georgia 139 (სხსმ 166)

Summary: Epitaph

Editor(s): Nodar Shoshiashvili

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.

Translation

This grave belongs to Ioane the bishop of Bolnisi and may nobody else be buried in it. This Cross of Shushanik

Commentary

According to the Corpus of Georgian Inscriptions by Nodar Shoshiashvili the inscription #64-65. Abbreviation mark: long horizontal straight line. The inscription does not contain any mark of separation. The inscription is dated according to the paleographic data: the tendency of the graphemes Ⴊ and Ⴌ towards adopting a Nuskhuri style. Also: Ⴁ is open and Ⴣ is engaged. The inscription does not seem to be contemporary to the “Bolnisi Cross”. In the inscription on side 2 the letters Ⴣ and Ⴘ are averted by mistake and engraved.

Bibliography:

ნოდარ შოშიაშვილი, ქართული წარწერების კორპუსი, ლაპიდარული წარწერებიbibliography.xmlb101, 153-154

ლევან მუსხელიშვილი, ბოლნისიbibliography.xmlb93, 337-339

საქართველოს სახელმწიფო მუზეუმის ქართული ეპიგრაფიკული ძეგლების კატალოგიbibliography.xmlb111, 22-23

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