The inscriptions in Bir al-Kut ( Georgian ბირ ელ ყუტის წარწერები ), also known as the Georgian inscriptions of Palestine ( Georgian პალესტინის ქართული წარწერები ) are three mosaic inscriptions of the Byzantine Empire , made in the ancient Georgian language in the font "asomtavruli". They were discovered in 1952 in the Georgian monastery of St. Theodore of Tyrone [1] by the Italian archaeologist Virgilio Caño Corbo near the town of Bir al-Kut in the Judean desert , 6 km southeast of Jerusalem and 2 km north of Bethlehem [2] . These inscriptions were found on the mosaic floor [3] [4] [5] : two date from 430 AD, the third from 532 [6] [7]
The monastery where the inscriptions were found was founded by the Georgian prince and bishop Peter Iver , whose father is mentioned in one of the inscriptions [8] [9] ; another inscription mentions Bakur Iver , a Byzantine military leader, whom a number of historians ( Ammianus Marcellinus , Turaniy Rufin and Zosim ) call the grandfather of Peter Iver and the Georgian king [10] . All three inscriptions are considered the oldest inscriptions in Georgian. Currently, all inscriptions are stored in the museum of the Franciscan society Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem [11] . The inscription No. 2 mentioning Peter Iver is currently considered lost [12] .
Content
Labels
Lettering No. 1
ႣႠ ႻႭჃႻ |
- Translation: “And their pupils Bakur and Gri-Hormizd and their children, Christ, have mercy, Amen.” [13]
- Date: 430 year
Letter 2
ႼႫႨႣႠႭ ႧႤႭႣႭႰ |
- Translation: “ Saint Theodore , have mercy on Marouan and Boursen, amen .”
- Date: 430 year
Letter 3
ႸႤႼႤႥႬႨႧႠ Ⴕ ჁႱႨႧႠ ႣႠ Ⴋ |
- Translation: “With the help of Christ and the intercession of St. Theodore, Lord have mercy, Rector Anthony and Josiah, who made this mosaic, as well as Josiah's father and mother. Amen. ” [13]
- Date: 532 year
See also
- Georgian inscriptions of Nazareth
- Inscriptions in Bolnisi
- The inscription in Umm-Leysun
Notes
- ↑ Khurtsilava, p. 56
- ↑ Khurtsilava, p. 57
- ↑ Gideon Avni, The Byzantine-Islamic Transition in Palestine: An Archaeological Approach, p. 149 , Oxford University Press, 2014
- ↑ Dairat Al-Athar al-Ammah, Annual of the Department of Antiquities, p. 78
- ↑ Michael Avi-Yonah, Ephraim Stern, Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, V. 3, pp. 879-882
- ↑ Hewitt, p. four
- ↑ Khurtsilava, p. 58
- ↑ Louis Leloir, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, p. 71, Secrétariat du Corpus SCO, 1976
- ↑ Glen Warren Bowersock, Peter Brown, Oleg Grabar, Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World, p. 466
- ↑ Khurtsilava, p. 59
- ↑ Monachesimo Archived November 9, 2014. Studium Biblicum Franciscanum
- ↑ Khurtsilava, p. 61
- ↑ 1 2 Bir al-Kut (Russian)
Literature
- Hewitt, BG (1995). Georgian: A Structural Reference Grammar. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-90-272-3802-3 .
- Wachtang Djobadze , Djobadze WZ Materials for the Study of Georgian Monasteries in the Western Environs of Antioch on the Orontes. Volume 48, 372. - Corpussco, 1976. (CSCO; 372).
- Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia , Volume 7, Tbilisi, 1984. S. 651-652.
- Le Destin de la Géorgie, Revue de Karthvélologie, 1961, p. 115
- V.V. Chachanidze . Peter Iver and the archaeological site of the Georgian monastery in Jerusalem. - Tbilisi, Metznireba, 1977.
- Giorgi Tsereteli . The oldest Georgian inscriptions from Palestine. - Tbilisi, 1960.
- B.V. Khurtsilava . The inscriptions of the Georgian monastery in Bir al-Kut and their chronology // Christianity in the Middle East. - No. 1. - 2017. - S. 129-151.