Dedication offering a mosaic floor to Hermes
created: Transcription (Reynolds).
source date: Second century CE
language: ar; en; fr; de; grc; grc-Latn; el; he

Bibliography

[...], 111, fig. 85 (from a photograph), whence [...], 1964.568; Discussed by [...], 12-17, whence [...] 60.1838, [...], p. 101.b; [...] no. 23; mentioned [...], 163, 167.

θεῷ μεγάλῳ Ἑρμᾶι Ἰανουάριοϲ δοῦλοϲ εὐχὴν ἣν εὐξάμην ὑπέρ τε ϲωτηρίαϲ καὶ νείκηϲ Τιβερίου Κλαυδίου Ἰάϲονοϲ Μάγνου ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων ἐψηφοθέτηϲα

Translation

For the great god Hermes, Ianuarios Januarius, slave, as the votive offering which I offered for the safety and victory of Ti(berios) Klaudios Ti(berius) Claudius Jason Magnos Magnus, from my own means I laid the mosaics.

من أجل المؤله العظيم هيرميس، إيانوريوس (إو جانوريوس)، عبدٌ ، كأعطية نذرية الي قدمتها من أجل سلامة وانتصار تيـــ (بريوس) كلاوديوس جاسون ماغنوس، عملت هذه الفسيفساء من ممتلكاتي الخاصة (مالي الخاص).

Commentary

The existence of this small shrine in close proximity to the so-called house of Jason Magnus, like the colossal statue of Herakles which stood at the entrance to the atrium of the house, should probably be connected with the ephebic cult of these two gods: see C.51.

For μέγας as an epithet of Hermes, particularly in Egypt, see e.g OGIS 716, Panopolis (available at PHI 219130) and on the epithet in general, Br. Müller, ΜΕΓΑΣ ΘΕΟΣ, 322). In the present context of gratitude to the god it might also be a reflection of an acclamation, cf. Petersen ΕΙΣ ΘΕΟΣ, 196f; and it could also imply a connexion in the dedicator's mind with the θεοὶ μεγάλοι of Samothrace, cf. B. Hemberg, Die Kabiren, 26f. and 93f.

Jason Magnus appears also in C.242 and C.243, C.405, lines 1, 2, and C.306, lines 1, 2, the latter dated between 176 and 180, and probably in C.421, C.661, line 2. The prayer for his safety and victory may indicate that he was for a time a soldier, or possibly a competitor in some overseas contest.