Christian invocation for Anastasios, pigeon-seller
created: Transcription (Reynolds).
source date: Fourth to sixth century CE
language: ar; en; fr; de; grc; grc-Latn; el; he
availability: Creative Commons licence Attribution UK 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/) All reuse or distribution of this work must contain somewhere a link back to the URL http://inslib.kcl.ac.uk/

Bibliography

i and iii: [...], 33, 34, pp. 218-220, figs. 79-80 whence [...], 1932, p. 211, [...] 9.187, [...] 324038, [...] 9.188, [...] 324039; [...] p. 286, 4; mentioned [...] 18.755; [...], 1961.835 and [...], 81-91, whence [...], 1971.725; iii: [...], whence [...], 1976.790; i, ii and iii, [...], 215-8, whence i and ii [...] 31.1578, from which PHI 324546. [...], 168.b.

[...]ϲ

Κύριε βοήθηϲον το͂ Ἰανουαρίω

βοήθηϲον Κύριε τοῦ ῥαββί

Κύριε βοήθηϲον Ἀνασταϲίου τοῦ ἔχοντοϲ τὰϲ περεϲτεράϲ

Apparatus

[^a1: at i.b 2-3: τ[οῦ] Ἀν/αϲ[ταϲίου] [whence LGPN V1-62856.]]

Translations

[i] (Cross) Lord, help Januarius. [ii] Help, Lord, the Rabbi. [iii] Lord, help Anastasius, the man who has the doves.

Commentary

ii. The word is clearly Rabbi; what is less clear is how it would be understood. P.W.van der Horst, Journal of Jewish Studies 38 (1987) 102-106, (whence SEG 37.1702) considers that this text can only be Jewish; it is only i that is unequivocally Christian.

iii: Oliverio proposed a reference to the Emperor Anastasius; but Roussel suggested that Anastasios was a pigeon-seller. Robert provided an assembly of evidence for these and other bird-sellers. Anastasios was not selling birds to eat, but more probably as pets. The texts marked the place where he practised his trade.