Les inscriptions d’une église extraordinaire à Tell Aar dans la Syria II

Abstract

This study publishes eight mosaic inscriptions which originate from a rescue excavation carried out in 1988 in a partly preserved transept-basilica with five nave aisles north-west of Hama (Epiphaneia). Just as unusual as the evidence for this apostolion-building at such a distance from any major city, is the content of the inscriptions: At least one of the mosaics is dated to the year 375/76 und thus offers the earliest precisely dated evidence from a church within the province Syria secunda. This inscription also remarkably mentions that the benefactor was a recently converted Christian. Another inscription provides evidence for a so-far undocumented function of a basilikarios, and a third one mentions a sekretarion as belonging to the church.