DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4680#0157
488 XII. CHRISTIAN INSCRIPTIONS OF S.W. PHRYGIA.
ordinary life, country, occupation, and rank : the one fact, Christianus
sum, superseded them all. But it is only in the language of the
martyrs and other extremists that we find any traces of this custom
so early as the third century : it had not yet affected ordinary society,
and it does not appear in epitaphs.
M. Le Blant observes that the Greek Christian inscriptions state
parentage far more frequently than the Latin, and he explains this
from the non-existence in Greek of family names. But though this
may have been a contributory cause, yet the earlier date of the Greek
inscriptions is the principal reason, for the fourth and fifth century
Greek inscriptions often omit the parentage. In fact the majority
of the Phrygian Chr. inscr. are older than the formation of the distinc-
tive Chr. customs. I know no example of a pre-Constantinian inscr.
in the province of Asia, in which the parent's name is omitted.
M. Le Blant II p. 306 shows himself quite aware that the dislike
to the mention of the father's name was only gradually developed,
as Christianity established its own special formulae, and he dates
inscriptions on which the name of the father is added anterieure a la
creation du premier formulaire chre'tien.
§ 2. Criteria of Christian Epitaphs. M. Le Blant II pp. 152 f
has insisted on the local characteristics of inscriptions. Each district
has its own style, its own ' formulae, symbols, wilting, arrangement,
ornamentation,' apart from characteristics due to difference of period.
A careful study of them is one of the essentials of scientific epigraphy;
and M. Le Blant has given a preliminary list of the local characteristics
of Christian inscriptions known to him. In the eastern provinces his
list naturally is very scanty1. He mentions at Athens KoifirjTijpioi1 at
the beginning of the epitaph, in Galatia deaLs, in Mopsouestia, Tarsos,
Korykos, and Seleuceia tottos, in Seleuceia and Tyana /xv-q/xTa, in
Mopsouestia and Tarsos pivrj/ia Siacpepov, in Seleuceia yjxp.o(rbpiv and
Trapao-TCLTiKov, in Korykos and Seleuceia #77*77, and in Korykos <ra>/ia-
toOtjki]. But hardly any of these characteristics had come into use
before the time of Constantine: they belong to a later period than we
have to treat of in this essay. M. Le Blant would distinguish the
Gaulish epitaphs which show these characteristics as early ; but in his
work the term ' early' denotes the fourth century, whereas in this
essay, that period is considered late.
Inscriptions, in which the words used have absolutely nothing to
mark the epitaph as Christian, but a cross or other symbol beside the
text shows the religion, are frequently found in the western provinces
They are also in some cases premature.
ordinary life, country, occupation, and rank : the one fact, Christianus
sum, superseded them all. But it is only in the language of the
martyrs and other extremists that we find any traces of this custom
so early as the third century : it had not yet affected ordinary society,
and it does not appear in epitaphs.
M. Le Blant observes that the Greek Christian inscriptions state
parentage far more frequently than the Latin, and he explains this
from the non-existence in Greek of family names. But though this
may have been a contributory cause, yet the earlier date of the Greek
inscriptions is the principal reason, for the fourth and fifth century
Greek inscriptions often omit the parentage. In fact the majority
of the Phrygian Chr. inscr. are older than the formation of the distinc-
tive Chr. customs. I know no example of a pre-Constantinian inscr.
in the province of Asia, in which the parent's name is omitted.
M. Le Blant II p. 306 shows himself quite aware that the dislike
to the mention of the father's name was only gradually developed,
as Christianity established its own special formulae, and he dates
inscriptions on which the name of the father is added anterieure a la
creation du premier formulaire chre'tien.
§ 2. Criteria of Christian Epitaphs. M. Le Blant II pp. 152 f
has insisted on the local characteristics of inscriptions. Each district
has its own style, its own ' formulae, symbols, wilting, arrangement,
ornamentation,' apart from characteristics due to difference of period.
A careful study of them is one of the essentials of scientific epigraphy;
and M. Le Blant has given a preliminary list of the local characteristics
of Christian inscriptions known to him. In the eastern provinces his
list naturally is very scanty1. He mentions at Athens KoifirjTijpioi1 at
the beginning of the epitaph, in Galatia deaLs, in Mopsouestia, Tarsos,
Korykos, and Seleuceia tottos, in Seleuceia and Tyana /xv-q/xTa, in
Mopsouestia and Tarsos pivrj/ia Siacpepov, in Seleuceia yjxp.o(rbpiv and
Trapao-TCLTiKov, in Korykos and Seleuceia #77*77, and in Korykos <ra>/ia-
toOtjki]. But hardly any of these characteristics had come into use
before the time of Constantine: they belong to a later period than we
have to treat of in this essay. M. Le Blant would distinguish the
Gaulish epitaphs which show these characteristics as early ; but in his
work the term ' early' denotes the fourth century, whereas in this
essay, that period is considered late.
Inscriptions, in which the words used have absolutely nothing to
mark the epitaph as Christian, but a cross or other symbol beside the
text shows the religion, are frequently found in the western provinces
They are also in some cases premature.