DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45618#0022
i82
Division III Section B Part 6
Cast of Inscription No. 1170.
1. ΣεψΡω καί Συριβετύλω και Αεοντι? θεοϊς πατρήοις, το
2. ε’λαιο(τ)* 2ρόπ£ον συν κατασκευή παση εκ των των. θεών προσ-
3· όθων., Αά Νοριερίου καί Βεριωνος καί Δαρειου καί Κλαυώου του εβοκατ(ου),
4· ε’πίριελ^τών, καί ’Αντωνίου καί Σωπατρου, λευκουργ3ών^
5· — Δ[ο]μ.ετια.υός, τεκτων, ρ.ν^σθ’ρ. —
6. Καί Γαιου καί Σέλευκου, τεκτόνων, έτους βοσ) [χηνος
7. Περίπου ε/, συνετελεσθις καί α’φίερωθτ;.
8. Ό γράψας, Θεότεκνος.
To Seimios and Symbetylos and Leon, ancestral gods, the oil-mill, with all its
fixtures, from the revenues of the gods, through Nomerios and Berion and Dareios
and Klaudios the evocatus (i. e. a veteran, still qualified for military service), epimeletai
(i. e. directors or superintendents of the property of the gods), and Antonios and
Sopatros, leukourgoi (i. e. marble-workers) — may Dometianos (the) builder be re-
membered — and Gaios and Seleukos, builders, in the year 272, month Peritios 15th,
was finished and dedicated. He who wrote this was Theoteknos. (February, 224 a. d.)
The names of the three divinities mentioned here are important for the study of
the religions of Northern Syria. As M. Chapot has said, Σείρΐίος (or Σείριος) is evidently
the masculine counterpart of Σ^ριε^α), Σίρια or Σψ.ία. mentioned in the inscription from
Burj el-Oae 4 and elsewhere. The editors of the latter inscription associated this name
with the Aramaic Shemaiya, Shamin — Heavens. It seems fairly clear now that there
is no such connection, or at least no direct connection. The origin of the name appears
to be Simi or Sima, the name of a very ancient goddess, perhaps originally from
Babylon, worshipped in Northern Syria in early times. This goddess is doubtless the
same as the Άσιρια'θ (Asimd), imported into Samaria by the colonists from Αίριαθ (Hama}
after the Assyrian conquest near the end of the eighth century b. c. 5 Like a good many
oriental deities, this one appears both in a male and in a female form. The god or
goddess is mentioned in at least seven inscriptions already know, namely, (1) and (2)
' This letter is uncertain: if the mark was intended for a letter at all, it is badly executed. I read this name Σείμω
originally.
2 A 7[ in this place is almost certain: if not, then f | f5.
3 There is no < here, as the squeeze shows: the mark, read as i by M. Chapot, is accidental, and not large enough,
for a letter.
4 See below.
5 IV Kings, xvn, 30. Ronzevalle, in Λ’. A. n (1903, 2), p. 35 ff. Dussaud, in Ji. A. iv (1904, 2), p. 258.
Division III Section B Part 6
Cast of Inscription No. 1170.
1. ΣεψΡω καί Συριβετύλω και Αεοντι? θεοϊς πατρήοις, το
2. ε’λαιο(τ)* 2ρόπ£ον συν κατασκευή παση εκ των των. θεών προσ-
3· όθων., Αά Νοριερίου καί Βεριωνος καί Δαρειου καί Κλαυώου του εβοκατ(ου),
4· ε’πίριελ^τών, καί ’Αντωνίου καί Σωπατρου, λευκουργ3ών^
5· — Δ[ο]μ.ετια.υός, τεκτων, ρ.ν^σθ’ρ. —
6. Καί Γαιου καί Σέλευκου, τεκτόνων, έτους βοσ) [χηνος
7. Περίπου ε/, συνετελεσθις καί α’φίερωθτ;.
8. Ό γράψας, Θεότεκνος.
To Seimios and Symbetylos and Leon, ancestral gods, the oil-mill, with all its
fixtures, from the revenues of the gods, through Nomerios and Berion and Dareios
and Klaudios the evocatus (i. e. a veteran, still qualified for military service), epimeletai
(i. e. directors or superintendents of the property of the gods), and Antonios and
Sopatros, leukourgoi (i. e. marble-workers) — may Dometianos (the) builder be re-
membered — and Gaios and Seleukos, builders, in the year 272, month Peritios 15th,
was finished and dedicated. He who wrote this was Theoteknos. (February, 224 a. d.)
The names of the three divinities mentioned here are important for the study of
the religions of Northern Syria. As M. Chapot has said, Σείρΐίος (or Σείριος) is evidently
the masculine counterpart of Σ^ριε^α), Σίρια or Σψ.ία. mentioned in the inscription from
Burj el-Oae 4 and elsewhere. The editors of the latter inscription associated this name
with the Aramaic Shemaiya, Shamin — Heavens. It seems fairly clear now that there
is no such connection, or at least no direct connection. The origin of the name appears
to be Simi or Sima, the name of a very ancient goddess, perhaps originally from
Babylon, worshipped in Northern Syria in early times. This goddess is doubtless the
same as the Άσιρια'θ (Asimd), imported into Samaria by the colonists from Αίριαθ (Hama}
after the Assyrian conquest near the end of the eighth century b. c. 5 Like a good many
oriental deities, this one appears both in a male and in a female form. The god or
goddess is mentioned in at least seven inscriptions already know, namely, (1) and (2)
' This letter is uncertain: if the mark was intended for a letter at all, it is badly executed. I read this name Σείμω
originally.
2 A 7[ in this place is almost certain: if not, then f | f5.
3 There is no < here, as the squeeze shows: the mark, read as i by M. Chapot, is accidental, and not large enough,
for a letter.
4 See below.
5 IV Kings, xvn, 30. Ronzevalle, in Λ’. A. n (1903, 2), p. 35 ff. Dussaud, in Ji. A. iv (1904, 2), p. 258.