Christian invocation in mosaic
created: Transcription (Reynolds).
source date: Fourth to fifth centuries CE
language: ar; en; fr; de; grc; grc-Latn; el; he

Bibliography

[...], whence [...], 2000.746bis, [...] 49.2364; [...], 218.3, whence [...], 2004.457, [...] 53.2071.1. Mentioned [...], 58

εἰρήνη ἡ εἴϲοδόϲ ϲου ἀρχιιερεῦ ὁ βλέπων

Translations

Your entry (?coming) is peace, high priest, who sees (this).

Commentary

Christian texts from doorways like this one are rare in Libya, but in Syria, where they are quite common, they often invoke a blessing on those passing in or out with goodwill. Here only one entry is mentioned, and the text is, as Dobias-Lalou observed, an adaptation of a question put in several forms to strangers in Old Testament narratives, and specifically of the form in which it is put to the prophet Samuel by the elders of Bethlehem: Kings 1 (1 Samuel) 16.4: εἰρήνη ἡ εἴσοδός σου, ὁ βλέπων. For further discussion see Christian Monuments (cited above), 220-221