DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4680#0190
App. CHRISTIAN INSCRIPTIONS. 521
it kept separate \ but the older system long survived him. In the Acta
S. Theodoti2, under Diocletian, Fronto the priest of a village Malos, 40
miles E of Aneyra (Hist. Geogr. p. 251), not merely performs his church
duties every day, but also cultivates a vineyard and makes wine, works
a farm, and drives a cart to Aneyra with the produce for market; and
his case seems not to be exceptional but the ordinary custom in Phrygia
and Galatia. At Assos an inscription of the fourth or fifth century
mentions Helladius a presbyter and magistrate (politezw?ne?ws)3. The
father of St. Patrick was a decurio and a deacon (early fourth cen-
tury) i. See p. 568.
362. (P. 1887, Sterrett 1883). Dede-Keui. Cumont 142. Aap.as
AioTe[fj,ov Ka\Te<TK.evao-ev to fjp<2\ov no jXT]Tpaivi M.7]\Tpohdp<f €7ri<rK07jj(o /ecu tu
Trarpi p,ov | Atorei/xo) kcli eairr<5|' el tls he eiriy^eiprjo-ei [ delve erepov riva, 6r]\o-ei
Is to Tap,elov 7rpocr|ret//ou 8t}j>. <p'' el KaTa(ppo\vr\uei tovtov, eare] clvtw Trpos
tov ^&vTa Oeov.
This inscription is marked as Christian by the concluding formula.
The respect in which Metrodoros the bishop was held is marked by his
being named by his sister's son before his own father and himself. The
naming of a fine for violation of the tomb belongs to an early stage of
Christian development; and the simple forms are precisely those of the
ordinary pagan tombstones, except for the concluding formula and the
precedence assigned to the uncle the ejns/cojws. The names are native
family names, and neither does the praenomen Aurelius occur (no. 235),
nor is there any trace of the formation of a Christian nomenclature.
These considerations suggest for the inscription a date about 200-15.
But the letters vary a little in size, and are not in the best style of the
period; and the open use of a Christian title JEjiis/copos is hardly probable
in the pre-Constantinian period5. The date must therefore remain
doubtful; but, on the whole, the balance of evidence is in favour of the
earlier date : in the post-Constantinian period one would hardly expect
1 See Ej). I, Stokes Ireland and the church (or part of it).
Celtic Church pp.4lf, from whom I take i Dr. Stokes 1. c, who also mentions
the following instances. that Innocent I replied to a question of
2 AA SS 18th May IV 149 ff and Exuperius bishop of Toulouse in A. d.
Ruinart Act. Sine. 405 that those who have held judicial
3 CIG- 8838, LW 1034 d, Sterrett Inscr. office may not be ordained without
of Assos no. 73 in Pap. Amer. Sch. Ath. I doing penance, and retired soldiers may
p. 85 (with error in transcription ; CIG not be ordained at all.
better). In the Contemp. Rev. 1880 5 The title, however, might be men-
(June) p. 983, Dr. Stokes argues that tioned openly, because it was also in use
Helladius built the walls of Assos; as a pagan title (like Geraios no. 361) :
but Sterrett shows that he built a see p. 501.
it kept separate \ but the older system long survived him. In the Acta
S. Theodoti2, under Diocletian, Fronto the priest of a village Malos, 40
miles E of Aneyra (Hist. Geogr. p. 251), not merely performs his church
duties every day, but also cultivates a vineyard and makes wine, works
a farm, and drives a cart to Aneyra with the produce for market; and
his case seems not to be exceptional but the ordinary custom in Phrygia
and Galatia. At Assos an inscription of the fourth or fifth century
mentions Helladius a presbyter and magistrate (politezw?ne?ws)3. The
father of St. Patrick was a decurio and a deacon (early fourth cen-
tury) i. See p. 568.
362. (P. 1887, Sterrett 1883). Dede-Keui. Cumont 142. Aap.as
AioTe[fj,ov Ka\Te<TK.evao-ev to fjp<2\ov no jXT]Tpaivi M.7]\Tpohdp<f €7ri<rK07jj(o /ecu tu
Trarpi p,ov | Atorei/xo) kcli eairr<5|' el tls he eiriy^eiprjo-ei [ delve erepov riva, 6r]\o-ei
Is to Tap,elov 7rpocr|ret//ou 8t}j>. <p'' el KaTa(ppo\vr\uei tovtov, eare] clvtw Trpos
tov ^&vTa Oeov.
This inscription is marked as Christian by the concluding formula.
The respect in which Metrodoros the bishop was held is marked by his
being named by his sister's son before his own father and himself. The
naming of a fine for violation of the tomb belongs to an early stage of
Christian development; and the simple forms are precisely those of the
ordinary pagan tombstones, except for the concluding formula and the
precedence assigned to the uncle the ejns/cojws. The names are native
family names, and neither does the praenomen Aurelius occur (no. 235),
nor is there any trace of the formation of a Christian nomenclature.
These considerations suggest for the inscription a date about 200-15.
But the letters vary a little in size, and are not in the best style of the
period; and the open use of a Christian title JEjiis/copos is hardly probable
in the pre-Constantinian period5. The date must therefore remain
doubtful; but, on the whole, the balance of evidence is in favour of the
earlier date : in the post-Constantinian period one would hardly expect
1 See Ej). I, Stokes Ireland and the church (or part of it).
Celtic Church pp.4lf, from whom I take i Dr. Stokes 1. c, who also mentions
the following instances. that Innocent I replied to a question of
2 AA SS 18th May IV 149 ff and Exuperius bishop of Toulouse in A. d.
Ruinart Act. Sine. 405 that those who have held judicial
3 CIG- 8838, LW 1034 d, Sterrett Inscr. office may not be ordained without
of Assos no. 73 in Pap. Amer. Sch. Ath. I doing penance, and retired soldiers may
p. 85 (with error in transcription ; CIG not be ordained at all.
better). In the Contemp. Rev. 1880 5 The title, however, might be men-
(June) p. 983, Dr. Stokes argues that tioned openly, because it was also in use
Helladius built the walls of Assos; as a pagan title (like Geraios no. 361) :
but Sterrett shows that he built a see p. 501.