Appendix 1: The Greek and Coptic Inscriptions in the Red Monastery Church

Dilley, Paul C.

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Appendix 1: The Greek and Coptic Inscriptions in the Red Monastery Church

Paul C. Dilley

The Red Monastery Church: Beauty and Asceticism in Upper Egypt

Very few of the inscriptions in the Red Monastery church, which are all dipinti, had been published, or even identified, before the ARCE conservation work...

Author

Paul C. Dilley

PublisherYale University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-23745

Appendix 1: The Greek and Coptic Inscriptions in the Red Monastery Church

Paul C. Dilley

Very few of the inscriptions in the Red Monastery church, which are all dipinti, had been published, or even identified, before the arce conservation work. One inscription of Merkouri was copied by Wladimir de Bock and later reproduced by Alexis Mallon (nsr.n.i-1).1Bock 1901, fig. 76; Mallon 1914, fig. 3281. De Bock also reproduced two rough transcriptions of inscriptions (nsr.s.i-1, N.n.i-1), though he did not state their precise location in the church or his source for them.2“Two Coptic inscriptions (see figs. 78 and 79) were copied in the Red Monastery, but the sheets containing the copies give no other information about the place where the inscriptions were found”; Bock 1901, 67 (trans. Bolman). Paul van Moorsel and Karel Innemée later translated one of these transcriptions (nsr.s.i-1), which they note is alongside “les abondantes inscriptions.”3Moorsel and Innemée 1997, 71. It is no coincidence that these inscriptions are all on the ground floor of the Red Monastery church, in the northern long room (nlr) and the northern wall of the nave, and thus are easily accessible. Nevertheless, even in these areas, many previously unknown inscriptions have subsequently been uncovered. In 2008 I published the inscriptions from the northern lobe of the triconch, which are also included in this appendix, along with the remaining texts.4Dilley 2008. This appendix brings the number of extant inscriptions to 110. They vary widely in length and states of preservation.5I wish to thank Jacques van der Vliet, who kindly made available transcriptions of a number of inscriptions that he made at the Red Monastery in the 1990s. I have noted where I follow his reading when the text has disappeared in the intervening years.

Textual Features, Paleography, and Dating

The professionally produced dipinti associated with the various early Byzantine iconographic programs were written in a straight line, either vertically or horizontally, when possible.6As a point of comparison, the script of Attic vases could run in either direction, a feature generally not present in late antique dipinti, but was not written vertically. See Immerwahr 1990, 16. The labels seem to have been added after their associated figures had been painted, and their shape and distribution were therefore partially constrained by the contours of the images they identified. Such spatial restrictions are very clear, for instance, in the labels of the prophets in the northern semidome (T.n.III.i-2, 3, 7, 8), in which different letters of the same word may be broken up with little sense of sequence. Additionally, there are many irregularities in writing, which can include both misshapen letter forms and incomplete words. There are also frequent misspellings, only some of them phonetic. Occasionally a word is garbled, as in the title of Elijah, which seems to be a corruption of Tishbite (T.n.III.i-1). Although some monastic painters were capable of writing their own signature inscription, others were probably illiterate and simply copied dipinti from a model, which led to mistakes.7The painters of Attic vases, by comparison, ranged widely from highly literate to illiterate. Immerwahr distinguishes between phonetic errors and additions or subtractions of a single letter, which do not preclude a literate painter, and egregious mistakes, such as badly miswritten individual letters; Immerwahr 1990, 173–174. Further, these painters must have worked under difficult conditions, painting from ladders and basic scaffoldings at a relatively high elevation (for example, at N.w.i-5), which resulted in the production of letters at awkward angles. In summary, a number of external factors make writing in a consistent script difficult, which in turn present a challenge to anyone trying to evaluate inscriptions’ paleographic features or restore lost or damaged text.

Moreover, several different hands may have written the dipinti from the same layer of painting; or one hand may have copied from several different models, or even used different brushes.8Immerwahr 1952, 209. For instance, the use of Greek labels for the apostles Peter and Paul (T.n.III.i-4, 6), in contrast to the Coptic labels used elsewhere in the same semidome, may suggest that they were taken from a different pattern book. It is very likely that the longer scriptural passages written on scrolls held by the prophets were copied from a biblical manuscript, as is suggested by their regular handwriting. Even these verses, however, have spelling errors, perhaps by an illiterate painter, but possibly also from phonetic interference on the part of a literate painter. In any case, because many of the dipinti were probably copied from older models, the script tends to be conservative.

While the paleography of dipinti more closely resembles book hands than lapidary inscriptions, the straight-line forms common in the latter medium occasionally appear in dipinti. In the Red Monastery inscriptions, for example, some omegas are formed with the curved strokes common in calligraphy, whereas others feature a combination of straight lines.9Wietheger provides useful paleographical data for inscriptions in the monastery of Apa Jeremiah at Saqqara during the late antique and early Islamic periods; Wietheger 1992. pls. 1–3. Both curved and straight letters are found within a very limited amount of text in the sixth-century icon of Apa Abraham from the monastery of Phoibammon.10Icon of Bishop Abraham, Museum für Spätantike und Byzantinische Kunst, Berlin, inv. 6114; in Effenberger and Severin 1992, 170–171. This affinity suggests that the same person might have both painted dipinti and cut stone inscriptions, or painted stone after it had been cut, as had the fourth-century Roman calligrapher Furius.11Furius, who may have produced the original codex with the Roman Calendar of 354, also inscribed some of Pope Damasus’s epigrams on stone. See Salzman 1990, 202–204. Similarly, Henry Immerwahr’s study of the inscriptions at Dura Europos identified a single hand that both incised graffiti in plaster, forming letters with the same straight lines used in stone monuments, and painted directly onto the plaster, sometimes reproducing these linear letter forms.12Immerwahr 1952, 209.

Despite these precautions, some observations about possible dates may be made for the dipinti, especially the scriptural verses in the northern lobe of the triconch, which most closely resemble book hands. Because many Egyptian scribes also copied Greek texts, it is useful to appeal to the more highly developed discipline of Greek paleography. Of the four major types of literary hand in early Byzantine Egypt described by Guglielmo Cavallo and Herwig Maehler, the dipinti on the scrolls of the prophets in the northern semidome most closely resemble the Alexandrian majuscule, also known as the “Greek uncial of Coptic type.”13Cavallo and Maehler 1987, 4–5. They differ from the biblical majuscule in not having its characteristic distinction between thick and thin strokes, the long rho, phi, and upsilon, or the ornamentation at the ends of the letters. The scroll dipinti do, however, share the primary characteristic of the bimodular Alexandrian majuscule, which is a distinction between wide and narrow letters: specifically, the smaller, oval-shaped epsilon, sigma, omega, and theta, and the larger mu, nu, eta, and pi. Perhaps the closest parallel is with a sixth-century papyrus of Odyssey XVIII from Oxyrhynchos.14Bibliotheca Alexandria, Antiquities Museum, P.Oxy 1820; Cavallo and Maehler 1987, 22b. Some individual letters, however, are closer to another type of hand, the semicursive “sloping majuscule” of Dioskoros, a sixth-century lawyer from Aphrodito who could write in both Greek and Coptic.15For Dioskoros of Aphrodito, see MacCoull 1988. In particular, the mu and the different forms of epsilon and upsilon are very similar.

The medieval inscriptions in the church are written in significantly different, later scripts. They can be profitably compared to the hands of the medieval manuscripts written at the White Monastery, in accordance with the developing trend of connecting the disciplines of paleography and epigraphy.16For Coptic, see Dekker 2008, 31–34. Recent works in the developing field of Syriac epigraphy used manuscript paleography in the dating of a mosaic inscription; Briquel-Chatonnet and Desreumaux 2011, 49–54. See also Brock 2009. For example, the dedicatory inscription for the painting of the equestrian saint (N.n.i-1), dated to 1285/1286 c.e., is close to the hand of an earlier manuscript dated to 1112 c.e.17British Museum, London, Or. 3581; Lantschoot 1929, 1:133–137, LXXX. Important similarities include the generally slanted ductus of the script, the consistent use of diaeresis marks on all iotas, the “flat” mus, and the shapes of the horis, shais, and djandjas. The only other certain surviving dates are associated with the signatures of the painter Merkouri, from the beginning of the fourteenth century (T.e.I.8.i-1; nlr.n.i-1; N.w.i-1, N.w.1–7; see figs. 15.1, 17.1), and are characterized by various flourishes, including frequent ligatures.18But note that a fragmentary inscription in the hand of Ananias (N.w.i-2) appears to be dated to a.m.1043 (1326/1327 c.e.).

The Inscriptions

In listing the inscriptions, I proceed from north to east, south, and west, and from left to right. For each section of the church, I number the inscriptions sequentially: i-1, i-2, and so on. All inscriptions are in black paint unless otherwise stated. The edition follows the Leiden conventions: [a] denotes restoration of lost text; (a) expansion of abbreviated text; restoration of text erroneously omitted by the scribe; {a} demarcation of erroneous or superfluous text; ‘a’ text inserted by scribe. Dots correspond to traces of illegible letters; letters with a dot underneath are uncertain readings. In cases where the margins are lost and of uncertain length, I use ]a and a[ for left and right margins, respectively. Text in brackets is the transcription of the inscription.

NORTHERN LOBE, LEVEL 1

T.n.I.5.i.-1

Aum?

T.n.I.5.i-2

This very fragmentary inscription appears to have been written over T.n.I.5.i-1.

T.n.I.5.i-3

[Jesus Christ . . . sins all the more . . . all . . . I judge them (?) . . . Markos (Mark) (the sinner?) . . . Gerge (George) . . .]

This inscription is recorded by Jean Clédat, but it is no longer extant. It does not appear to be identical to T.n.I.5.i-1.19Louvre Museum, Paris, Jean Clédat, unpublished notebook (“Convents Rouge et Blanc,” 1903–1906), inv. E 27427, 71. I would like to thank Cédric Meurice for this source.

T.n.I.6.i-1 (see fig. 1.1)

[The Holy Apa Athanasios]

T.n.I.7.i-1 (in red paint) (see fig. 8.22)

[. . . to the priest of (?) . . . pray for me . . . the sinner (?), the least Kolthe]

I have consulted Jacques van der Vliet’s earlier facsimile in making this transcription.

T.n.I.8.i-1 (see fig. 10.16)

[Abba Kyrillos (Cyril), Archbishop]

T.n.I.10.i-1 (see fig. 1.2)

[Apa Theophilos, the Archbishop]

NORTHERN LOBE, LEVEL II

T.n.II.4.i-1 (see fig. 2.3)

[Abba Besa, Archimandrite]

Note the third-declension Greek genitive form, which is unattested in Kuhn 1956.

T.n.II.6.i-1 (see fig. 14)

[Abba Shenoute, Archimandrite]

T.n.II.8.i-1 (see fig. 2.2)

[Paulos (Pcol), the Forefather [and] Archimandrite]

An alternative reading,

, has been proposed by Alain Delattre, in his edition of a Greek funerary inscription from the White Monastery, which includes

.20Delattre 2013, 198, with notes. While this is a possible interpretation of the damaged text,

seems to be a more plausible reading than

. As Bentley Layton points out, “‘Paul’ would be Pcol’s Greek name, just as elsewhere Pshoi’s Greek name is said to be ‘Peter.’”21Layton 2014, 33. Van der Vliet’s earlier facsimile read:

,

Note that the letters

have subsequently disappeared.

T.n.II.10.i-1 (see fig. 2.1)

[Abba Psai (Pshoi), Anchorite]

This follows van der Vliet’s transcription, made when more letter traces were visible, which suggest “anchorite.” For anchorite as Psai’s title, also see the White Monastery typika and a stone funerary inscription.22Zanetti 1995, 66; Delattre 2013, 198. Another possible restoration, assuming a different distribution of letters in the label space, is

.23Dilley 2008, 119.

NORTHERN LOBE, LEVEL III

T.n.III.i-1 (see fig. 12.2)

[Apa Elias (Elijah) the Tishbite]

T.n.III.i-2 (see fig. 10.22)

[Esekiel (Ezekiel) the Prophet]

His scroll is inscribed with Ezekiel 44:2–3:

[Christ. The Lord said to me, “This gate is shut, it will not be opened. No one will go into it. The Lord God of Israel will go in (to it).”]

Line 14: read

T.n.III.i-3 (see fig. 10.22)

[Jeremias (Jeremiah) the Prophet]

His scroll is inscribed with Jeremiah 31:4–5:

~[Christ. Again I will build you, and you, Virgin of Israel, will be built. You will take your timbrels and go out in the congregation of the joyful. And you will plant vines . . .]

Lines 7–8: read

; line 9: read

.

T.n.III.i-4 (see fig. 12.4)

[The Holy Petros (Peter)]

The inscription might also be read as

, that is, Pachomios.

T.n.III.i-5 (see fig. 13.1)

[May God . . . Apa . . . the painter . . .]

The dedicatory inscription of the third-phase painted program.

T.n.III.i-6 (see fig. 13.1)

[The Holy Paulos (Paul)]

T.n.III.i-7 (see figs. 10.23, 13.1)

[Esaeias (Isaiah), Prophet]

His scroll is inscribed with Isaiah 7:14–15:

[Christ. Behold, the Virgin will conceive and bear a son, and you will call his name “Emmanuel.” He will eat curds and honey until he understands how to (distinguish?) good and evil.]

Line 2: orthographic variant for

; lines 4–5: read

; lines 10–11: read

; line 11: phonetic variant for

.

T.n.III.i-8 (see fig. 10.23)

[Daniel the Prophet]

His scroll is inscribed with Daniel 2:34–35, with some of 2:34 omitted:

[Christ. I was watching as a rock was cut from a mountain without hands, and it struck the statue on (its) feet (of bronze and iron and clay and silver and gold).]

Line is orthographic variant for

; the Septuagint has

; lines 1–2: phonetic variant for

; line 4: read

; line 5: read

; lines 6–7: read

; lines 9–10: read

; line 10: read

; line 14: phonetic variant for

.

T.n.III.i-9 (see fig. 10.23)

[Moeses (Moses) the Lawgiver]

Read

.

T.n.III.i-10 (see fig. 10.22)

[Joseph the Just]

T.n.III.i-11 (see fig. 10.22)

[Archangel (Michael?)]

T.n.III.i-12 (see fig. 10.19)

[Archangel Gabriel]

T.n.III.i-13 (see fig. 10.19)

[Salome]

EASTERN LOBE, LEVEL I

T.e.I.3.i-1 (see fig. 10.17)

[Michael the Archangel]

T.e.I.5.i-1 (in red paint) (see fig. 20.15)

[Jesus Christ conquers. The cross, to the Aeon of Victory. The cross, the hope of the Christians.]

T.e.l.7.i-1 (see fig. 10.18)

[Archangel Gabriel]

T.e.I.7.i-2

[These two archangels . . .]

A gloss written in a later hand.

T.e.I.8.i-1 (in red paint) (see fig. 17.1)

[Jesus Christ. The poor Merkouri, painter. God have mercy on me. Amen. Era of the Martyrs 1031 (1314/1315).]

EASTERN LOBE, LEVEL III

T.e.III.i-1 (see fig. 34, in the Conclusion)

Line 1: read

? line 8: read r?

[Abba (Shenoute), the great(?) abba . . .]

T.e.III.i-2

This inscription is clearly separated from the above labels by a painted line. It is highly fragmentary, about three letters to a line, and may be a dedication.

T.e.III.i-3 (see figs, 20.14, 20.25)

[Bartholomaios (Bartholomew)]

One of the twelve apostles depicted in the first-phase painting, for which eight legible labels and one fragment have survived; after Bartholomew, two apostles have been covered over by the angels of the fourth phase.

T.e.III.i-4 (see fig. 20.14)

[Michael]

One of the archangels from the fourth phase.

T.e.III.i-5 (see fig. 20.14)

The label on this scroll held by the fourth-phase angel is very mysterious; it appears to be the same as the label on the other angel’s scroll (T.e.III.i-15).

T.e.III.i-6 (see fig. 20.14)

[(He)lios]

Helios (the sun) is a standard iconographic feature in Christ in Majesty scenes; no label has survived for the accompanying moon.

T.e.III.i-7

[Jakobos (James)]

T.e.III.i-8

[Andreas (Andrew)]

T.e.III.i-9

[Petros (Peter)]

T.e.III.i-10

[Thomas]

T.e.III.i-11 (see fig. 13.2)

[Maththaios (Matthew)]

After Matthew, one apostle is covered by the fourth layer.

T.e.III.i-12

[Thaddeos (Thaddeus)]

T.e.III.i-13

[Simonos (Simon)]

T.e.III.i-14

Only the fragment of one letter is extant from the label of this unidentified apostle.

T.e.III.i-15

This mysterious label also appears on the scroll of the other fourth-phase angel (T.e.III.i-5).

T.e.III.i-16

[Gabriel]

One of the archangels from the fourth phase.

EASTERN LOBE, LEVEL IV

T.e.IV.i-1 (see fig. 10.9)

[Moeses (Moses) receives the (law)]

This descriptive label is an allusion to Exod. 31:18.

T.e.IV.i-2 (see fig. 10.10)

Read

, as in T.e.IV.i-1

[Jesus speaks with Moeses (Moses) in the bush]

This descriptive label is an allusion to Exod. 3.

SOUTHERN LOBE, LEVEL I

T.s.I.3.i-1

[The Bishop]

The name on the left side of the figure’s head has not been preserved.

T.s.I.5.i-1 (see fig. 4.2)

[Abba Basilios (Basil), Bishop]

Note the haplography.

T.s.I.6.i-1 (in red paint) (see fig. 8.20)

[May the Lord redeem those who are upon the altar. Pray for me. Lord have mercy on me today as I go to his place of judgment. Amen. Let it be. The least Kolthe.]

T.s.I.7.i-1 (see fig. 10.5)

[Apa . . . the Bishop]

The name on the left side of the figure’s head has not been preserved.

T.s.I.7.i-2

On the top of the niche is written:

[This poor, this poor . . . this wretched, wretched . . . Michael the . . .]

I have consulted van der Vliet’s notes in editing this inscription; cf. T.e.I.7.i-2. It seems to be a writing exercise.

SOUTHERN LOBE, LEVEL II

T.S.II.3

This niche apparently has three different surviving layers of inscriptions. Two different layers appear together on the upper register, so it is not possible to distinguish between the two.

T.s.II.3.i-1 (see fig. 13.3)

[The Holy Apa (Stephanos?) the Archdeacon]

Note the mixture of the Greek and Coptic definite article at the beginning and end, suggesting two different layers.

T.s.II.3.i-2

The third inscriptional layer is concurrent with the surviving figure, and it confirms the identity suggested by the earlier labels:

[The Holy Stephanas (Stephen)]

T.s.II.5.i-1 (see fig. 1)

[The Holy Markos (Mark)]

The label is in a late, unrefined hand at the top of the upper border.

T.s.II.5.i-2 (see fig. 8.14)

The orans on the left sidewall of this niche has the label:

[. . . entios]

An unidentified saint.

T.s.II.5.i-3

The orans on the right sidewall of this niche also has the label:

[Holy . . .]

An unidentified saint.

T.s.II.7.i-1 (see fig. 8.15)

[The Holy Joannes (John) . . .]

The label is in a late, unrefined hand at the top of the niche.

T.s.II.7.i-2

[The Archdeacon]

T.s.II.9

This niche also apparently has three different surviving layers of inscriptions. The first two layers on the upper register are fragmentary, but the surviving fragments do not appear to overlap.

T.s.II.9.i-1 (see figs. 8.16, 12.1)

[(Apa?) the Holy (Archbishop?)]

Note the combination of the Greek and the Coptic definite article.

T.s.II. 9.i-2

The identity of this bishop is found in the third inscriptional layer, which is concurrent with the surviving figure:

[Apa Theona(s), the Archbishop]

T.s.II.9.i-3 (in green paint)

[The Apa . . . ]

An unidentified saint.

SOUTHERN LOBE, LEVEL III

T.s.III.i-1 (see fig. 10.26)

[The Holy Petros (Peter) the Arch(bishop)]

T.s.III.i-2 (see fig. 10.26)

[(The Holy) Joannes (John)]

T.s.III.i-3 (see figs. 10.26, 11.18)

[The Holy Markos (Mark)]

T.s.III.i-4 (see fig. 10.26)

[The Holy Joann(es) (John)]

Presumably, this is John the Baptist.

T.S.III.i-5 (see fig. 10.27)

[The Holy Zacharias]

T.s.III.i-6

[The Holy Louk(as) (Luke)]

T.S.III.i-7

[The Holy Maththaios (Matthew), Evangelist]

T.s.III.i-8 (see fig. 10.28)

[The Holy Dioskoros the Arch(bishop)]

T.s.III.i-9 (see fig. 10.27)

In the upper right section of the southern semidome there is a bust of a bearded, haloed saint in a roundel, with a fragmentary inscription:

[The Holy . . .]

An unidentified saint.

NORTHERN SQUARE ROOM (SEE FIG. 6.35)

NSR.s.i-1 (see fig. 14.6)

On the left and right sides of Christ:

[Jesus Christ]

NSR.s.i-2

Above the head of the left angel:

Uncertain meaning.

NSR.s.i-3

Above the head of the right angel:

Uncertain meaning.

NSR.s.i-4 (in red paint)

Later inscription at the bottom of the painting:

[Jesus Christ, help them. In peace. Amen. The son of Moeses. I, Johannes.]

NSR.s.i-5 (in red paint)

Below the above inscription, to the left:

[Thomas]

NSR.s.i-6 (in red paint)

Below the inscription, to the right:

[Theodoros]

NSR.w.i-7 (see fig. 14.7)

The saint above the door:

[Apa . . .]

An unidentified saint.

NORTHERN LONG ROOM (SEE FIG. 6.33)

NLR.n.i-1 (in red paint) (see fig. 15.1)

[Jesus Christ. The poor Merkouri, the painter, son of the monastery (of) Apa Shenoute. God, have mercy on him. Amen and Amen. Today, this 11th of the month Mesore, a.m. 1017 (17 August 1301 c.e.)].

This inscription has an interesting mix of writing styles, presumably both by Merkouri: a highly stylized script with multiple flourishes in lines 1–2 through “Shenoute,” as well as line 5; and a smaller, squarer one in lines 2–4.

NLR.n.i-2

[Remember me]

NLR.n.i-3

The second line of this fragmentary inscription is no longer preserved, but it is recorded by Clédat.23 It is not in good enough condition to propose a translation.

NLR.s.i-2 (in red paint) (see fig. 6.33)

[In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The all-holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit . . . remember me in your prayers. Our God, forgive the multitude of my sins. I, the least Kolthe, unworthy of the name “monk.” Entreat God on my behalf, by raising up your hands upon the altar, saying “May the Lord have mercy on the wretched soul today, so that God will visit me in it, and those who (?). Amen. Era of the Martyrs 101(?) (ca. 1293–1303 c.e.).]

A rough transcription was reproduced by de Bock.24Bock 1901, fig. 78. I have also consulted van der Vliet’s earlier transcription, which includes several letters that have subsequently been lost.

NLR.s.i-2

[“ . . . This commemoration . . . hands . . . world . . . ”]

Although this damaged passage is clearly commemorative, its precise sense remains unclear.

FACADE WALL OF THE TRICONCH

F.I.4.i-1 (in red paint) (see fig. 3.6)

Below niche to the left:

[Remember me: I, this small, wretched Merkoure.]

F.I.4-i-2 (see fig. 20.28)

Below the niche:

[The Holy Th(?)]

This label is within a roundel containing the portrait of a female saint. Her name is difficult to reconstruct given the surviving paint; Thekla seems impossible.

F.I.4.i-3 (see fig.3.1)

Upper left side of niche:

This fragmentary inscription, possibly a name, is immediately above a standing figure in orans position, but it is not possible to reconstruct any phrase securely.

F.I.4.i-4 (see fig. 20.12)

Above the niche to the left:

[. . . Apa Shenoute . . . they painted (?) . . .]

This lengthy inscription was painted over a thin layer of whitewash. Unfortunately, only scattered individual letters are visible, because most of the whitewash has flaked away to reveal the second-phase floral decoration underneath.

F.III.3.i-1 (in red paint) (see fig. 7.11c)

Beneath the hood of the niche:

[the wretched Merkoure, painted.]

Read

F.III.3.i-2 (in red paint) (see fig. 7.11c)

In the pediment of the niche:

This fragmentary inscription has not been securely reconstructed, but it is in the same hand as the one above at F.III.3.i-1.

NORTHERN WALL OF THE NAVE (EASTERN END)

N.n.i-1 (in red paint) (see figs. 16.5, 17.3)

Dedicatory inscription of the medieval painting of an equestrian saint:

[Jesus Christ. May the Lord Jesus Christ, verily true God, bless and protect this dedication, by the venerable order of the God-loving, charity-loving, offerings-loving Deacon Paulos (Paul), the son of the holy Klate, because he, on account of his love for God, established this painting of the holy martyr, the holy aganistes (probably “combatant”), in his own trials, so that he (the martyr) might entreat God for him (Paulos). May Jesus the Christ bless him and his fathers and his brothers, and this brother, a man who thirsts, the wretched monk, in this monastery. May the Lord receive his gift, just as it has become for him a sacrifice for our father. He was pleased with the two coins of the widow (Luke 21) . . . This is the 19 of the month . . . in this year, the Era of the Martyrs 1002 (1285/1286 c.e.). While the Lord is king over us. Painter. The teacher Mergoure.]

A rough transcription was given by de Bock.25Bock 1901, fig. 79. In line 8,

could be the name of the equestrian saint, but it is probably better to amend it to

, combatant, a term frequently used for martyrs and especially appropriate for a soldier-saint.26See Lampe 1961.

In line 15 there is a double erasure within double square brackets: only two supralinear strokes remain.

N.n.i-2 (see fig. 16.10)

On the black stripe to the right of the martyr’s head:

[The martyr . . . Christ Jesus]

This inscription was perhaps a label for the saint, but if a proper name follows the title martyr, it is too fragmentary to read; furthermore, there seems to be space for only four letters.

N.n.i-3 (see fig. 16.10)

On the black stripe to the left of the martyr’s head:

[. . . Christ Jesus]

This inscription also might have contained the martyr’s name, but if so, it is now illegible.

N.n.i-4

The small figure to the right of the soldier-saint’s horse is labeled:

[Servant]

N.n.i-5 (see figs. 16.5, 16.10)

A large inscription to the left of the equestrian saint:

[In the name of the Father . . . the consubstantial Trinity . . . (Remember) me . . . God-loving brothers . . . and the holy . . . the way of life . . . especially deacon . . . the doctor, the son of . . . the son of the deacon . . . royal [?] city . . . the city Shmin (Panopolis) and the region . . . the great ruler [?], abba . . . worthy that they . . . this great congregation . . . abba . . . brother.]

Both margins of this inscription, which may have been a dedication for an earlier painting, are uncertain; the right side is missing a significant section. The bottom of the inscription is also uncertain; faint traces exist for at least six more lines beyond line 24, and it is possible that there were even more. Finally, there are traces and isolated letters on the other side of the horse’s legs, which may have belonged to the same inscription:

N.n.i-6 (see fig. 16.5)

To the right of the soldier-saint is another fragmentary inscription, presented within a painted stela:

If this inscription is also a dedication, its connection to N.n.i-1 is uncertain. Faint traces of at least three more lines remain, but the inscription may have been much longer. I have consulted van der Vliet’s notes for the restoration of several letters. It is not in good enough condition to propose a translation.

WESTERN WALL OF THE NAVE

N.w.i-1 (in dark red paint)

Toward the southern end of the wall, near the top:

[The poor Merkouri, painter. The (servant of?) the monastery of our father Apa shenoute. God have mercy on him. Amen [and amen]. Era of the Martyrs 1038 (1321/1322 c.e.)]

N.w.i-2 (in red paint)

Just above N.w.i-1:

A very fragmentary inscription, which appears to be commemorative. The red paint and hand probably belong to Ananias, and it appears to have the latest date in the building: Era of the Martyrs 1043 [1326/1327 c.e.].

N.w.i-3 (in red paint)

[Remember me, my fathers and my brethren, I . . .]

N.w.i-4 (in red paint)

[I, Ananias, the Poor . . .]

N.w.i-5 (in red paint)

Near the middle of the wall, significantly above the floor:

[Ladder]

Perhaps this inscription served as a marker for placing the top of the ladder that was used to undertake the decorative program in this area.

N.w.i-6

[God, in truth . . . your . . . Merkour(i?) . . . philosophy . . . the cross . . . God . . . the world . . . father, archpriest . . . Anba Shenoute, the Lord . . . are great.]

The left margin is missing, while the right is preserved except for the bottom five lines.

N.w.i-7 (in red paint)

[I, Ananias (?). Remember me in love, my Christian fathers, in your (?) prayers and Christ will forgive my sins. Amen. . . . This month, Kiah (Koiahk [Kiyahk], November–December)].

N.w.i-8 (in red paint)

[Remember me . . . Ananias. A man is on the earth to bear greater things than his father (?). Let a wise man solve it for me.]

This is a riddle, presumably with theological content, by Ananias (see also N.w.i-9 and N.w.i-10).

N.w.i-9 (in red paint)

[A servant who . . . while his lord hurries to (renounce?) . . . he stopped . . . go away. I, Ananias.]

This riddle by Ananias is followed by another immediately below it.

N.w.i-10 (in red paint)

Line 1: read

[A cock cries and every child on earth hears him. May a wise man solve (it) for me.]

N.w.i-11 (in red paint) (fig. A1.1)

This complicated table is a Paschal computus, used to calculate the date of Easter and other calendrical information. It was first identified by G. F. Eleveld and Renate Dekker, students of Jacques van der Vliet at the University of Leiden. Because of space constraints, it will be published separately.

~

Description: Paschal computus in Coptic, nave, west wall

A1.1. Paschal computus, in Coptic, nave, west wall, N.w.i-11.

N.w.i-12 (in red paint) (fig. A1.1)

At the upper right-hand corner of the computus calendar is a commemorative inscription in the same red paint:

[This poor Giorge (George)! God has mercy on him, Amen. This poor Giorge! God has mercy on him, Amen. Jesus, I repent. Forgive me, if I have erred a little in this (?)].

This fragmentary inscription includes two lines written in cryptography (3 and 4), which, decoded, are identical to the first two lines.

N.w.i-13

At the northern end of the wall is an inscription in which the scribe requests the prayers of the reader:

[Remember me, my Christian fathers and brothers through lifting of your hands and prayers . . . his sins and his lawlessness . . . entreats . . . exhorts . . . Christ . . . the son . . . I . . . (everyone) who will read this writing, may . . . God have mercy on . . . Amen . . . let it be.]

1 Bock 1901, fig. 76; Mallon 1914, fig. 3281. »

2 “Two Coptic inscriptions (see figs. 78 and 79) were copied in the Red Monastery, but the sheets containing the copies give no other information about the place where the inscriptions were found”; Bock 1901, 67 (trans. Bolman). »

3 Moorsel and Innemée 1997, 71. »

4 Dilley 2008. »

5 I wish to thank Jacques van der Vliet, who kindly made available transcriptions of a number of inscriptions that he made at the Red Monastery in the 1990s. I have noted where I follow his reading when the text has disappeared in the intervening years. »

6 As a point of comparison, the script of Attic vases could run in either direction, a feature generally not present in late antique dipinti, but was not written vertically. See Immerwahr 1990, 16. »

7 The painters of Attic vases, by comparison, ranged widely from highly literate to illiterate. Immerwahr distinguishes between phonetic errors and additions or subtractions of a single letter, which do not preclude a literate painter, and egregious mistakes, such as badly miswritten individual letters; Immerwahr 1990, 173–174. »

8 Immerwahr 1952, 209. »

9 Wietheger provides useful paleographical data for inscriptions in the monastery of Apa Jeremiah at Saqqara during the late antique and early Islamic periods; Wietheger 1992. pls. 1–3. »

10 Icon of Bishop Abraham, Museum für Spätantike und Byzantinische Kunst, Berlin, inv. 6114; in Effenberger and Severin 1992, 170–171. »

11 Furius, who may have produced the original codex with the Roman Calendar of 354, also inscribed some of Pope Damasus’s epigrams on stone. See Salzman 1990, 202–204. »

12 Immerwahr 1952, 209. »

13 Cavallo and Maehler 1987, 4–5. »

14 Bibliotheca Alexandria, Antiquities Museum, P.Oxy 1820; Cavallo and Maehler 1987, 22b. »

15 For Dioskoros of Aphrodito, see MacCoull 1988. »

16 For Coptic, see Dekker 2008, 31–34. Recent works in the developing field of Syriac epigraphy used manuscript paleography in the dating of a mosaic inscription; Briquel-Chatonnet and Desreumaux 2011, 49–54. See also Brock 2009. »

17 British Museum, London, Or. 3581; Lantschoot 1929, 1:133–137, LXXX. »

18 But note that a fragmentary inscription in the hand of Ananias (N.w.i-2) appears to be dated to a.m.1043 (1326/1327 c.e.). »

19 Louvre Museum, Paris, Jean Clédat, unpublished notebook (“Convents Rouge et Blanc,” 1903–1906), inv. E 27427, 71. I would like to thank Cédric Meurice for this source. »

20 Delattre 2013, 198, with notes. »

21 Layton 2014, 33. »

22 Zanetti 1995, 66; Delattre 2013, 198. »

23 Dilley 2008, 119. »

24 Bock 1901, fig. 78. »

25 Bock 1901, fig. 79. »

26 See Lampe 1961. »

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