Dura Europos

[makedonin]

I could not find this one on this forum, so please delete if already posted.
It was already discussed and thanks to Struja we have this:

The central scene shows a conventional Mithras, in Parthian-style clothes, and wearing boots, killing the bull. On his belt hang two sheaths containing daggers or swords, and he holds a third in his right hand. A small dog jumps up at the front on a convenient shelf, well away from the wound, while a small snake skulks in the lower right corner; a rudimentary raven, looking rather like a plucked chicken, peers down at Mithras’ Phrygian cap. The bull’s tail hangs down, just as on several Mithraic reliefs from Syria; there is an obscure limp above it which may represent the scorpion, of which there is otherwise no sign [or possibly a lion, facing right?]. Above the cave entrance are posed the busts of radiate Helios (l.) and Selene, backed by a crescent, separated by a row of 7 stars. The places usually taken by the luminaries are here occupied by the torchbearers, who stand erect and fully frontal, each dressed and equipped like Mithras with two daggers, and holding a spear in the left hand (unique detail). Cautes, on the l., is considerably larger than Cautopates on the r., which may or may not be significant.

Side-scenes:

Within the frame of the cave, from lower left:
1) Above the ‘scorpion’ or ‘lion’ there sits a fat naked baby wearing a Phrygian cap, holding out his hands towards clusters of grapes growing from a vine that emerges from the rock. Unique scene. [This seems to evoke an otherwise unknown narrative of the babyhood of Mithras, which introduced the theme of grapes and wine, evidently of importance in the feast scene and so in Mithraic feasting. The baby’s attitude recalls that of Romulus and Remus suckling from the she-wolf.]
2) Above the baby, Mithras petragenes, with both hands, most unusually, resting on the rock.
3) Above that, a Saturnus in Phrygian cap and Parthian dress (unique detail) reclining on his l. arm, and holding an object, ? harpè, in his r. hand.
4) To the right of Mithras, a scene from the narrative of Mithras and Helios/Sol: Mithras, wearing a Phrygian cap, stands in front of kneeling Helios, holding the latter’s jaw in his r. hand, and places his l. hand on Helios’ head. The weathering of the relief has dulled the details, but this seems to be a unique variant on the common ‘investiture’ scene.

The panels outside the frame of the cave:
Left register from top:
1) Two figures in Persian dress and wearing Phrygian caps, presumably the torchbearers, standing on blocks, carry a large cauldron between them on a pole (unique scene). This unique scene seems to presuppose the unique scene at Dura in which the torchbearers carry the dead bull on a pole since it seems to allude to the practice of boiling sacrificial meat.
2) A small figure in a Phrygian cap, seated on a boulder, holding an unidentifiable elongated object in his r. hand. Immediately to his right, a stream flows down from the block supporting the figure above. Beside the stream, seven spheres lie jumbled about. That the seated figure may be Saturn, this time holding a harpè. For the seven balls, the range of seven objects stretched between the forelegs of the bull on Zenobios’ altar at Dura, identified by the Preliminary Report as small altars, but recently by L.A. Dirven, The Palmyrenes of Dura-Europos: a study of religious interaction in Roman Syria Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 138 (Leyden 1999), 301-4 as balls or spheres. Unique scene. [Prof. Turcan acutely suggests per litteras that the seated figure may be a poorly-understood ‘water-miracle’ - there is plenty of evidence of incompetence or lack of clarity in the relief. What then are the spheres?
3) Mithras taurophoros, apparently naked except for a Phrygian cap and breech-clout, walking to the l. (v. unusual, if not unique, direction).The feast scene, with radiate Helios (l.) and Mithras, both dressed in Persian or Parthian dress, face forward over the rim of the base, holding rhyta.

Along the base of the relief an inscription in Greek: language unknown!

(Someone having ago at the inscription!!!)

In his earlier article de Jong understood the first phrase to me ‘from the God’s deeds, from among the incidents in the God’s life’, which would have neatly fitted our understanding of the nature of the by-scenes. But he now considers that this would have been an impossible sense in the context. In the light of a similar phrase in a Christian inscription from Syria (IGLS 315), where it may mean ‘because of the things received from God’, he prefers the notion of a dedicatory formula. The name Absalmos, derived from the Aramaic ‘b(d)šlm’ ‘servant of Shalman’, is maionly found in Dura, Palmyra, Hatra, Edessa, and the mid-Euphrates in general, and is a further confirmation, alongside the Duran iconographic parallels, of the relief’s Syrian provenance. We may assume that Absalmos was the current Father of the community. De Jong suggests a date between late II and late III cent. AD: it is not possible to be more specific.







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[Daskalot]

Thank you Makedonin for posting this, I cannot find it either so it is a very good post!

[Mr. MASO]

Yes very good post . interesting!!!

[Delodephius]

The inscription reads (in modern alphabet):

ΘΕΟY ΜΙΘΡΑΝ ΕΠΟΙΗΣΕΝ ΖΗΝΟΒΙΟΣ Ο ΚΑΙ ΕΙΑΣΙΒΑΣ ΙΑΡΙΒΩΛΕΟΥΣ
ΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΟΣ ΤΟΞΟΤΩΝ ΕΤΟΥΣ ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΥ ΙΙΥ Ϡ

þeou Miþran epoiēsen Zēnobios o kai eiasibas Iaribōleous
stratēgos toxotōn etous deuterou 990.

"God Mithra built by Zenobios and seated Iariboleous commander of archers of the second year 990"

Year 990 being since the founding of Rome, cca. 753 BC, so this inscription is from 237 AD

Mr. Ambrozić, who once I admired for his work until I figured out myself it was "wrong", made several mistakes in his "decipherment". First of all, he does not know Koine Greek, obviously, so basically he made the same mistake western scholars who don't know a Slavic language do. Third, he does not know the forms of the Greek alphabet used at that time nor their numerical values, or the Greek letters used solely for numbers, like sampi Ϡ.

The inscription was made by soldiers of Rome. The cult of Mithras was popular in Rome and especially among soldiers. The city of Dura Europos was in the region of Palmyra, hence a Syrian name Iariboleous, a local who became a commander of a Roman archer unit.

I first noticed the inscription had something to do with the god Mithras when I noticed that in the first line there was written "ΜΙ8ΡΑΝ" and above, a traditional relief of god Mithras slaying a bull.

[makedonin]

From other discussions on the language, I have noticed that you have learned much more about linguistics than since I have first met you and you were Admiring Ambrozic work.

If his work is not correct, which I can't tell, than I have no problem accepting that as a fact.

Thanx for sharing your opinion Slovak.

[Struja]

Originally Posted by makedonin

From other discussions on the language, I have noticed that you have learned much more about linguistics than since I have first met you and you were Admiring Ambrozic work.

If his work is not correct, which I can't tell, than I have no problem accepting that as a fact.

Thanx for sharing your opinion Slovak.

thanks for bring this up again makedonin but tomas is right about his work, Mr Ambrozic is incorrect... yep its a fact alright!

[makedonin]

Originally Posted by Struja

thanks for bring this up again makedonin but tomas is right about his work, Mr Ambrozic is incorrect... yep its a fact alright!

You are welcome Struja.

As for the work, if it is a fact it is so, I certainly can't dispute it, if some one has other opinion and can, please bring up the arguments, I certainly would like to see them.

[Delodephius]

There is one inscription by Mr. Ambrozić that I find a bit hard to dispute. It is an inscription written on a ring from Gaul and it is suppose to be in the Gaulish language. The inscription reads: VEDZVIDIVVOGNAVIXVVIONI which he cut into seven pieces that all begin with letter V, so the inscription reads: VEDZ VIDI V VOGNA VIX V VIONI = Sage sees in fire (death) more than in life. Although I find it highly dubious, there is a possibility he is right on this one.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Slovak, what are the pros and cons for the Gaul inscription? And has this a connection in any way to the Slavic-sounding placenames in France (I think) which you have mentioned in the past?

[Delodephius]

Well I pretty much doubt Slavic speakers lived in Gaul or any other part of Western Europe. But, I think that there might be a connection between Gaulish and Slavic languages, I just don't know what kind of a connection. The subject was never studied scientifically, and even though Mr. Ambrozić made some interesting points, his work is still very unprofessional. He didn't check and re-examine his claims with his peers, he just made them and declared them to be the truth. He showed that something "Slavic" was to be found in Gaul, but because he tried to prove that this was indeed Slavic as we today understand, he missed to study it for what it really is, whatever it may be.

As for the inscription, it resembles more the modern Slavic languages than the older ones. While I can make parallels for words in my own native language, or combine them with forms from other Slavic languages, the inscription makes sense. But why do older forms like Old Church Slavonic be less similar? I tried analysing Gaulish with the information there is on Gaulish grammar on the net, and it could just be that in the particular order that the words were used and arranged in this inscription, sounds (at least) similarly to modern Slavic languages, presumably because of the common Indo-European bond. But there is also the thing that the theory that the inscription is made of seven words that all start with the letter V, could just be plainly false.