JEWS AT STOBI

In honor of Emilio Marin, an eminent scholar of the ancient world,

the distinguished Croatian Ambassador to the Vatican, and a friend for many years.

JAMES WISEMAN UDK: 726.3 (497.7 Stobi) 01/04Boston University 930.271 (497.7=411.16) 01/04USA - Boston, 675 Commonwealth Av. Izvorni znanstveni lanak Primljeno: 28. III. 2011.

There was an active Jewish community at Stobi at least from the second century AD to the middle of the fi fth century. During that time period there were two successive buildings used by them for religious and other purposes, Synagogue I and II, located near the center of the city. In this article seve-ral previously unpublished Jewish inscriptions on stone, metal, in dipinti, and graffi ti are presented and discussed, as well as a few that have been published. Their relation to the well known inscription naming Tiberios Klaudios Poly-charmos, Father of the Synagogue at Stobi, is also discussed.

The existence of the Jewish community at Stobi in Macedonia during antiquity has been known since the discovery in 1931 of a marble column inscribed with a lengthy Greek text describing benefactions that Tiberius Claudius Polycharmos, the Father of the synagogue in Stobi, bestowed upon the synagogue.1 In the years since then excavation has revealed much of the synagogue of Polycharmos (Synagogue I: 2nd to late 3rd/early 4th

1. PETROVI 1932, pp. 8186. The fi rst publication of the text of the Polycharmos inscription was VULI 1931, pp. 238239; see also VULI 1932. The text of the inscrip-tion and a translation into English are available in three relatively recent publications: WHITE 1997, pp. 352-356, no. 73; HABAS 2001, pp. 4345; IJO I, pp. 6271, Mac1, all with additional commentary.

325325

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centuries AD) and its superimposed successor (Synagogue II: early 4th to fi rst half of the 5th centuries AD), 2 both below the fl oor levels of a Christian basilica (designated the Central Basilica beginning with the 1970 excava-tions), which was built in the second half of the 5th century AD.3 A number of inscriptions on stone, dipinti and graffi ti on wall stucco, and metal ob-jects bearing inscriptions also have been excavated which provide other names and another title of members of the Jewish community, as well as additional information about Polycharmos. The principal aim of this arti-cle is to provide readings and commentary of previously unpublished in-scriptions, dipinti, and graffi ti from the synagogues of Stobi and to discuss briefl y a few other related inscriptions.

1. TWELVE FRAGMENTS OF A PLAQUE BEARING A GREEK IN-SCRIPTION. Stobi Inv. No. I-78-6al. Figures 1, 2.

The following fragments are from a white marble plaque that had been cut into fragments which were then reused as sectilesome face up, some face downin patching the fl oor mosaic in the main hall of Synagogue II. This part of the mosaic lay below the north aisle of the Central Basilica, and was near the north wall of Synagogue II in the western part of the main room. The mosaic and the opus sectile were documented and the portion of the mosaic with the sectile removed on July 13, 1978.4 The sectile numbers in the catalog below are the sectile numbers used as designations on Stobi Drawing No. 78-278; several of the sectile have been joined, and are so indicated in the entries that follow. The letters were painted red and all have seriphs. Dimensions in meters, ligatures, and letter forms are indicated in each entry. The abbrevia-tion NB in the text of this article refers to a Stobi Notebook, followed by the NB number, a period, and page number (e.g., NB 113.74 means Stobi Note-book 113, page 74). The NBs are part of the Stobi Archive located at Stobi.

2. Principal reports on the systematic excavations of the synagogues by the Joint American-Yugoslav Project, 19701981, are: W-MZ 1972, pp. 408411; W-MZ 1973, pp. 391393; W-MZ 1974, pp. 146148; W-MZ 1976, pp. 293297; MOE 1977, pp. 148157; WISEMAN 1978, pp. 392395; POEHLMAN 1981, pp. 235248. Other relevant publi-cations by staff of the Joint Project are: KOLARIK and PETROVSKI 1975, pp. 6675; MANO-ZISSI 1981, pp. 119, 125; WISEMAN 1984, pp. 295301; WISEMAN 1986, pp. 4043. See also KRAABEL 1979, pp. 494497; WHITE 1997, pp. 343352; IJO I: pp. 5762, with a useful summary on p. 62 of reports on pre-1970 excavations.

3. SNIVELY 1984, pp. 525528, esp. p. 527 and note 2; WISEMAN 2006, p. 801.4. See the plan of Synagogue II with the location of the fl oor mosaic other features:

MOE 1977, pp. 154155.The reuse of fragments of the inscription as sectile in the patch had been noted in 1974: W-MZ 1974, p. 148. The lifting of the mosaic and opus sectile is recorded in Stobi Field NB 113.74.

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a. Sectile #11. Figure 1.Max. P.W. 0.075. Max. P.H. 0.04. Max. P.H. of letters 0.032.[----][----]The fi rst preserved letter is a lambda or delta. The alpha is missing only

the lowest parts of the legs. The upsilon has the entire left diagonal and the lower part of the right diagonal; the letter could conceivably by a chi.

b. Sectile #8 (upper), #4 (lower), joined. Figure 1.Max. P.H. 0.05. Max. P.W. 0.055. H. of letters 0.0340.035. [----][----][----][----]In the second line the tops of three or four letters are preserved, the fi rst

of which is (the dotted) rho or beta.c. Sectile #13 (upper left), #6 (lower left), #2 (right), joined. Figure 1.Max. P.W. 0.08. Max. P.H. 0.055. H. of letters 0.034; W. of pi 0.021. [----] [----]Ligature, quadrate omicron-sigma; the omicrons are diamond-shaped

(en losange). The lower part of the right leg of pi is missing as is the lower part of a quadrate omicron; both letters are certain.

d. Sectile #12 (upper left), #3 (upper right), #9 (lower), joined. Figure 1.Max. P.W. 0.075. Max. P.H. 0.094. Max. P.H. of letters 0.032. [----] [----][----][----]Line 1: the left leg of the mu is not preserved but the letter is certain. Liga-

ture, quadrate omicron-sigma. The fi nal letter is a quadrate omicron, missing its lower right diagonal; the letter is certain. Line 2: Right side of the horizon-tal bar and part of the right leg of the pi are preserved; pi is certain, but it is possible that a ligature was on the absent left side. Quadrate omicron, missing its lower right diagonal. All quadrate omicrons are en losange in form.

e. Sectile #10. Figure 1.Max. P.W. 0.046. Max. P.H. 0.034. Max. P.H. of letters 0.034. [----][----]Eta: right side of horizontal bar preserved and most of right vertical

stroke. Nu: most of left leg and fi rst diagonal preserved. Since the diagonal of the nu (as also in 1f and 1g) descends more deeply than instances of mu in 1d and 1j, then the only single letter possible here is nu.

f. Sectile #1. Figure 2.Max. P.H. 0.05. Max. P.W. 0.052. Max. P.H. of letters 0.031. [----][----]Quadrate omicron en losange. Most of left vertical and diagonal of the

nu are preserved.

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g. Sectile #18 (upper), #7 (lower), joined. Figure 2.Max. P.H. 0.052. Max. P.H. of letters 0.025. [----][----][----][----]Line 1: Lower parts of diagonal and right vertical of nu are preserved.

Line 2: Lowest part of both the kappa and the theta are not preserved; letters are certain. Ligature quadrate theta en losange with either quad-rate epsilon or eta on the right. If the former, line 2 might include [---] [] which would be suitable in reference to construction or reno-vation, e.g., from foundations. Consider a mosaic inscription for the 4th century AD in a synagogue on Aegina: [()] , Ibuilt the synagogue from its foundations5 here are other possibilities for the missing letters in our fragment.

h. Sectile #16. Figure 2. Max. P.W. 0.027. Max. P.H. 0.036. Max. P.H. of letters 1.9.

[----][----][----]. [----]Line 1: Part of the right tail with seriph of lunate omega is preserved,

as is part of right side of the circular portion. Most of the vertical leg and lower line of the bulbous part of rho are preserved. Both letters are certain although little is preserved of the omega. Line 2: Only the right side of the top seriph is preserved on the fi rst letter: eta, iota, or less likely a chi. The second letter has a vertical stroke on the left and a small part of the descender. I have dotted a nu; mu is also possible.

i. Sectile #15 (left), #14 (right), joined. Figure 2.Max P.H. 0.025. Traces of two inscribed lines, too small for useful

measurements of height. [----] . . [----][----] [----]Line 1. The fi rst letter is probably alpha or lambda; a chi is less likely

because of spatial requirements. There are several options for the second letter. Line 2. Dotted iota; might be eta. he second letter is a quadrate omicron or theta. The third letter is most likely iota, which I have dotted; an eta is possible.

j. Sectile #17. Figure 2Max. P.H. 0.022. Max. P.W. 0.028. Max. P.H. of letter 0.022.[----][----]Mu is certain because the right ascender begins high between the two

verticals; cf. mu in 1d, line 1 and the diagonals of nu, 1eg.

5. IJO I, Ach58, line 2.

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k. Sectile #5. Figure 2. Max. P.H. 0.023. Max. P.W. 0.020. Traces of two letters. The vertical shown in the illustration may be an iota or tau. It is pos-

sible, however, that the proper orientation is an inverted view of this small fragment; if so, the vertical is iota with the tip of a horizontal stroke of a preceding letter on the left.

l. Sectile #20 (left), #19 (right), joined. Figure 1.Max. P.H. 0.067. Max. P.W. 0.010. Grooved framing line. No letters are

preserved. Date. Since the inscribed plaque was cut into numerous pieces to make

sectile for a patch in the mosaic of the main room, we may suppose that the inscription itself no longer held signifi cance for the members of the synagogue at Stobi. The marble on which it was inscribed was evidently of greater importance. There is no archaeological evidence, however, to show how early in the life of Synagogue II the patch was made for the mosaic: ten years? a hundred years? The inscription, in any case, might reason-ably be associated with some other earlier building and/or event at Stobi. The most likely connection is with Synagogue I because of its proximity: Synagogue II was superimposed on Synagogue I. Internal evidence of the inscription confi rms the association with Synagogue I.

GENERAL COMMENTARY. The carefully cut, elegant letters were all quadrate and were painted red, a technique that caused the letters to stand out vividly on a background of white marble as here. The letters are slightly larger in fragments ae: 0.0340.035 m. Fragment f has letters that would be almost as large: the Max. P.H. is 0.031 m, so that if fully preserved would likely be about 0.032 m. The remaining fragments have somewhat smaller letters, none of them complete; none would have been as tall as 0.030 m. The use in inscriptions of larger letters in the fi rst one or more lines, with diminished heights in lower lines, is widely known both in Greek and Latin inscriptions, so we might expect here that the fragments with larger letters belong to the upper lines.

Since among the fragments with the largest letters, fragment b has the letters , the beginning of the praenomen of the most distinguished Jew yet known from ancient Stobi, we might consider whether or not the other non-joining fragments with the largest letters might suggest a reading relat-ed to that individual. I offer here a possible arrangement for the preserved or dotted letters on fragments in the following sequence: a, b, c, d, e.

[].[] [] [] [] [].Klaudios Tiberios Polycharmos, the Father, (fulfi lled ) a vow.

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The proposed restoration might have been in two lines instead of the one shown here, and there may well have been additional words expanding on his title as Father or on other matters. I have restored epsilon instead of eta in the praenomen, following the spelling on the column originally from Polycharmoss synagogue, that is, Synagogue I. In that inscription the nomen precedes the praenomen (line 2), so I have followed that example in the proposed restoration, but it is equally possible to restore the line with the praenomen preceding the nomen. The expression in the restored line was also suggested by the dipinti published below (items 25), whose dis-covery in 1970 and 1971 made possible the certain association of Tiberius Claudius Polycharmos with Synagogue I.6 That association led to the ad-ditional certainty that the inscribed column of Polycharmos belonged origi-nally to Synagogue I. On and , see the discussion below in 2.

Fragments fk offer too few certain letters to propose a continuous reading for that group of fragments, although fragment g, line 2, has letters that would fi t into details of construction or renovation. The marble plaque is likely, in any case, to be another dedicatory inscription of Polycharmos or a descendant with the same cognomen calling attention to his benefac-tions for the Jewish community at Stobi. A number of marble plaques com-memorating gifts of various donors adorned the walls of the synagogue at Sardis in the 4th6th centuries AD.7

2. FRESCO FRAGMENT WITH DIPINTO INSCRIPTION 1. Figure 3.Five fragments joined. Max. P.H. 0.108. Max. P.W. 0.14. Framing bands

W. 0.005. H. of letters, line 1, 0.0120.015; line 2, 0.012. Parts of three lines of Greek text; bounding frame preserved at top and upper left. Frame and letters painted red.

Editions. W-MZ 1971, pp. 408, 410, and pl. 90, fi g. 21, left. Wiseman 1984, p. 297 and fi g. 8, upper; SEG XXXIV 679A (citing Wiseman 1984); IJO I, p. 73, Mac3.

Additional accounts and notices of the dipinti inscriptions include W-MZ 1972, pp. 410; Moe 1977, p. 151; W-MZ 1978, p. 393 ; Kraabel 1979, p. 496; Poehlman 1981, p. 236; White 1997, p. 355, note 123; Habas 2001, pp. 73-74.

[-]. [-[] [].Polycharmos the Father (fulfi lled) a vow.

6. W-MZ 1971, pp. 406411; W-MZ 1972, p. 410.7. KROLL 2001, pp. 7, 8, 11, 2237, nos. 2237, fi gs. 3 and 4.

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Lunate sigma, epsilon; seriphs on alpha, eta, lambda, upsilon, chi. The seriphs in dipinti 25 are roughly horizontal strokes on vertical and diago-nal lines of letters at top and bottom, but roughly vertical strokes on the horizontal bar of tau. Letters themselves are (by lack of care) inconsistent in the width of painted strokes; on the other hand, left descenders on alpha, lambda, and chi are intentionally narrower. The inscription was set within a tabula ansata, as attested in Fragments 2 and 3 (Catalog Nos. 3 and 4), but in this instance the ansae are not preserved. There is part of a grooved depression on the left, at an angle to the inscription, which is probably part of the molded frame detected on other fragments with dipinti that enclosed one or more of the tabulae ansatae, perhaps in triangular spaces.

Fresco Wall Fragments 14, and a number of other fragments of wall fresco, were found fi rst in 1970, more in 1971, and occasionally thereafter just above the fl oor level of the main hall of Synagogue I, some stone pav-ing slabs of which were found in situ.8 The dipinti inscriptions were among or covered by destruction debris of the late 3rd century A.D. The fragments published here must have been a part of the wall decoration of the terre pis superstructure that rose above the stone-and-cement socle of the south wall of Synagogue I; some fragments were found even on the south side of the wall9 and others are conceivably from other walls of the hall.10

Polycharmos the Father must be Kl. Tiberios Polycharmos, also called Achyrios, Father of the synagogue in Stobi, lines 25 of the well known inscription mentioned in the fi rst paragraph of this article.11 The Greek cognomen Polycharmos is known in many parts of the Greek and Roman worlds,12 but other than at Stobi, Noy noted only one inscription from Macedonia (Orestis) that mentions the name.13 Tataki cites three ad-ditional instances: (?) (Beroia, 1st half of 3rd c. AD); () (Beroea, 2nd quarter of 3rd c. AD);

8. On paving slabs of the fl oor and a threshold leading into the hall from the south, see W-MZ 1972, p. 410, and the photo (unfortunately published upside down) in pl. 95, fi g. 6. WHITE, vol. 2, 1997, pp. 347, 355, note 123, mistakenly assigns the dipinti to a (non-existent) painted or frescoed fl oor of the main hall.

9. POEHLMAN 1981, pp. 236237.10. The dipinti inscriptions published here are in the inventory collection at Stobi;

additional fragments associated with the dipinti are stored there in Fresco Boxes 2226 and 116.

11. For recent publications of the text and translation into English see note 1.12. See in the volumes of LGPN s.v. .13. Both as a personal name and a patronymic in the late 2nd century AD: EAM I,

pp. 168 176, no. 186, col. 2 (below the main body of the text), line 58: .

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() [---] (Thessalonike, 2nd c. AD).14 Fraser and Mat-thews in 2005 added three other instances known from Macedonia.15 The ad-ditional name (a signum), , is attested only in one other inscription, written in dotted letters on the lip of a gold phiale from Sicily that may date to the 4th century BC. The inscription reads: , (the cup) of the Demarchos Achyris.16 The inscription on the phiale, then, has Achyrios as a genitive, while in the Polycharmos inscription it is a nominative. The root of the name, however, must be the same, and seems to have something to do with , chaff, as mentioned by a number of commentators. I am attracted by the possibility that the nickname was connected to a proverbial expression so that it might be translated as the (unexpectedly) fortunate.17

The dipinti inscriptions repeatedly refer to him as, Father, which was a title of honor awarded to individuals whose benefactions for a local Jew-ish community were highly substantial. His standing in the Jewish com-munity was similar to that of a patron in a municipality.18

The use of some form of , meaning vow or promise, as the object of a verb or a preposition, is common in Jewish donor dedications. A considerable variety of such expressions are known from the synagogue at Sardis, where one fi nds that a donor paid for laying a mosaic, or encrusting a wall with marble, or some other benefaction because he or she had made a vow to do so. The expressions include:19 (having

14. The names and sources are listed respectively in TATAKI RPM, p. 80, no. 160; p. 138, no. 381; p. 457, no. 60.

15. LGPN 4, p. 285, s.v.16. The gold phiale from Caltayuturo in Sicily has become world famous since its sor-

did modern history in the illegal antiquities market. An American collector, who had paid $1,200,000 to purchase the phiale, was forced by the U. S. judicial system to relinquish the vessel which was then restored to the Italian government and eventually to Caltayuturo. See SLAYMAN 1988; the inscription on the lip can be clearly seen in the photograph he publishes on p. 36. I have been informed recently (March 2011) by Professor Emeritus Malcolm Bell (U. of Virginia) that the phiale and the inscription are about to be published by F. SPATAFORA, S. VASSALLO, and P. GUZZO in the Mlanges darchologie et dhistoire de lcole franaise de Rome 2010/11, pp. 451477. I thank Professor Bell, who is co-director of excavations at Morgantina on Sicily, for responding so kindly to my inquiry about the status of the publication of the inscription.

17. Suggested by NOY in IJO I, pp. 6566, where there is a summary of earlier possi-ble interpretations. Evidently unaware of the inscribed phiale, however, he wrote (p. 65): The name has not been attested before in literary sources or inscriptions. Cf. HABAS 2001, p. 46.

18. See the discussion in IJO I, p. 66; WILLIAMS 1994: pp. 133134.19. The page numbers, inscription numbers, and most of the translations of the exam-

ples in the text are from KROLL 2001.

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made a vow, I fulfi lled it), p. 20, no. 8; (I fulfi lled a vow), p. 20, no. 9; (because of a vow), p. 27, no. 22; (I repaid a vow), p. 28, no. 25; (I fulfi lled the vow), p. 29, no. 26; and other similar expressions. At Stobi Polycharmoss inscription on the column from Synagogue I (line 9) has (be-cause of a vow). The verb or preposition is sometimes understood, as in the dipinti published here.

We note here that some of the same expressions were used by Christian donors to their church. For example, two mosaic inscriptions at Stobi in the south aisle of the Episcopal Basilica on the terrace (third quarter of the 5th c. AD) inform the viewer that Peristeria and Matrona both paid for paving separate parts of the aisle with mosaic ,20 I fully agree with Noy that Polycharmos, and many others, used the vow to represent the dona-tion as an act of piety and underline its religious aspect.21

3. FRESCO FRAGMENT WITH DIPINTO 2 FROM SYNAGOGUE I. Fig. 4.Editions: W-MZ 1970, pp. 408, 410, and Pl. 90, fi g. 21, right; Wiseman

1984, p. 297 and fi g. 8, lower; SEG XXXIV 679B (citing Wiseman 1984); IJO 1, pp. 73-74, Mac4.

Eight fragments joined. Max. P. H. 0.108. Max. P. W. 0.14. H. of letters, line 1, alpha 0.012, omicron and sigma 0.003-0.006; line 2, 0.01-0.011; line 3, 0.0080.01. Framing lines of inscription and ansa W. 0.0020.005. Parts of three lines of Greek text set within a tabula ansata preserved at top, bot-tom, and on the right. Frame and letters painted in red.

[][] Polycharmos the Father (fulfi lled) a vow.Lunate epsilon, mu, sigma; seriphs on chi, alpha, mu, pi, tau, eta, up-

silon. Line 1. Only the bottom part of the leg is preserved. Omicron and sigma are much smaller than other letters and are crowded into a small space at the end of the line. Line 2. Part of the seriph and bottom of the left leg of pi are not preserved. The right lower leg of eta and lower leg of rho are faded. Line 3. Only the ends of the curved upper and lower arms of the lunate epsilon are preserved. Part of the upper left arm of chi and left verti-cal of eta are not preserved, but the letters are certain.

4. FRESCO FRAGMENT WITH DIPINTO 3 FROM SYNAGOGUE I. Fig. 5.Eight fragments joined. Max. P. H. 0.089. Max. P. W. 0.27. H. of letters,

line 1, omicron (and sigma?) 0.009; others 0.017 ; line 2, 0.015. Framing

20. W-MZ 1970, p. 399; W-MZ 1973, p. 397. 21. IJO I, p. 67; he also discusses vows generally in Jewish inscriptions on pp. 6768.

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lines W. 0.009-0.013. Parts of two lines of Greek text set within a tabula ansata preserved at top and left. Frame and letters painted in red. Figure 5.

.[].Polycharmos the Father (fulfi lled) [a vow].Lunate mu, sigma. Omicron and sigma are much smaller than the other

letters in l.1. 5. FRESCO FRAGMENT WITH DIPINTO 4 FROM SYNAGOGUE I. Fig. 6.Four fragments joined. Max. P.H. 0.06. Max. P.W. 0.125. H. of letters

0.0150.016. Framing line W. 0.005. Most of the third and a trace of the second line of Greek text set within a tabula ansata are preserved. Frame and letters painted in red on a thin white stucco.

[----][----].[Polycharmos the Father] (fulfi lled) a vow.Lunate epsilon. The upper part of chi is not preserved, but the letter

is certain. Above the nu a part of the bottom seriph of a letter in line 2 is preserved.

6. VOTIVE INSCRIPTION ON A COPPER PLAQUE. Stobi inv. no. I-70-61. Figure 7.

Editions. W-MZ 1971, p. 410, pl. 90, fi g. 22; IJO I, pp. 7475, Mac5.H. 0.047; W. 0.079. H. of letters 0.0060.01. Greek inscription in four

lines within a tabula ansata that had been attached to the dedicated object by nails. Square holes indicate an ancient nail above the pi and one above and right of delta; two holes in the right ansa were likely originally for nails; three additional holes represent ancient damage.

- ()()Posidonia to Holy God: (I fulfi lled a) vow.The letters were cut by striking from the front with a small fl at chi-

sel so all possible letters are quadrate; omicrons are diamond-shaped (en losange). Part of the upper middle of the plaque is missing, including the upper bar of the sigma; top of the right ansa and parts of the left ansa are missing. The right diagonals of alpha and delta ascend above the apex of each letter; in name of dedicant, substitution of - for and - for , as often in Macedonia.

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The plaque was found below the tile underpinning of the mosaic fl oor of Synagogue II near the center of the main hall.22 The underpinning of the mosaic was laid in the early 4th c. AD, so we may with confi dence date Posi-donia and her votive earlier than the 4th century. In the original publication we also associated the plaque with Synagogue I, taking to be the Hebrew God. As Noy points out, refers to the Hebrew God in the Septuagint and was in frequent use also in reference to pagan deities; he, too, associates the inscription with Synagogue I.23 The name Pos(e)ido-nia is not known in other Jewish inscriptions, but is known in Macedonia, especially in Stobi and its region. There are two reserved seating spaces for persons with a form of the name in the Stobi theater. One is inscription 142 on the lip of Seat 1.11.7 (= seat 7 in the 11th row of the 1st kerkis), which reads (---).24 The reserved seat is in the seating area reserved for the municipal tribe . The name also occurs in the seating area of phyle Terentia, inscription 476, Seat 4.12.1, lip: (---) (). There are several other occurrences of the name in the region of Stobi: on a funerary column from Izbor near Veles;25 on a tombstone from near Kavadarci;26 and from three other towns near Kavadarci, Dabnite, Resava, and Strmaevo.27 Although the name occurs in various forms elsewhere in Macedonia,28 the number seems rich in the region of Stobi in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. The Posidonia of the votive plaque may be related to one of them, although none at present can be identifi ed as Jewish. But we should keep in mind that no name so far associated with the Jewish community at Stobi would now be recognized as that of a Jew if only the names were preserved without vo-tives, or ritual language, or Jewish titles, or archaeological context.

7. BRONZE SEAL FROM STOBI. National Museum, Beograd, Inv. No. 66-IV. Figure 8.

Editions. Popovi et al. 1969, p. 158, no. 343 (B. Jelii), with photo; IJO I, pp. 72-73, Mac2.

22. Stobi NB 11.150, Basket 51, Lot 799.23. IJO I, pp. 74-75, Mac5, with notes 98, 99.24. The several hundreds of inscriptions from the theater at Stobi (2nd to 4th c. AD)

have been studied by the present author. The manuscript is currently being revised for publication and will include additional seats, reused in other structures, that have been excavated by the new Stobi Project directed by Silvana Blaevska. Catalog numbers in bold face of theater seats here are those used in the manuscript.

25. VULI 19411948, no. 68.26. VULI 19411948, no. 140.27. VULI 1933, nos. 122, 137, and 138 respectively. 28. TATAKI, APBS, pp. 263264, nos. 11251129; TATAKI, RPM, p. 636, s.v. in In-

dex VI. See also LGPN IV, pp. 287288, s.v. entries under forms of the name.

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Bronze seal bearing a Greek inscription of a male name in the genitive in two lines, with the text interrupted in the middle by a seven-branched menorah on a tripod base accompanied by a lulab on the left and an ethrog on the right (directions as in the photo of Fig. 8). The letters are written right to left on the seal, but left to right in the transcription that follows. H. 0.05; W. 0.10. H. of letters 0.0130.018.

- (menorah) ---- (ethrog, stand, lulab) Lunate epsilon, sigma, upsilon. The seal has a narrow raised frame and

there are two holes in the stem of the menorah for attachment. Noy sug-gested the holes indicate the seal was reused at a later date when it was at-tached to something.29 He may be correct, but I wonder if the neatly formed holes might not have been for the attachment of a handle on the reverse to make the stamp more effi cient.

The seal was published fi rst in 1969 (cited at the beginning of this en-try) in Serbian (with Latin letters) and includes a photograph, brief iden-tifi cation of it as a stamp (for a seal), a basic description of the object and its inscription, and a cursory remark that it was found in a synagogue at Stobi. Mano-Zissi, who had excavated at Stobi in the 1930s, added a bit more detail, writing that it was found in the sewage system of the ves-tibule of the House of Psalms, i.e., the building adjacent on the south to the synagogue site, and which communicated with one or both super-posed synagogues via a doorway and connecting room.30 The excavation records of the 1930s were lost or destroyed during World War II, so the precise context cannot now be determined. The comment by Wiseman and Mano-Zissi in a footnote on its fi nd-spot and the designation of it as a plaque were erroneous.31

Jelii assigned the seal a date in the 6th c. AD. Mano-Zissi dated its deposition in the sewage system to the razing of Synagogue II, which should now be dated to the second half of the 5th century.32 In the absence of more precise context, we might conservatively date the seal to the time period of Synagogue II, from the early 4th to mid 5th c. AD.

29. IJO I, p. 72, Mac2.30. MANO-ZISSI 1981, p. 125.31. W-MZ 1971, p. 111, note 105; I thank Noy for pointing out the inconsistencies

with the later article by MANO-ZISSI: IJO I, p. 72, Mac2.32. JELII in POPOVI et al. 1969, p. 148, no. 343; MANO-ZISSI 1981, p. 125.

On the dating of the Central Basilica above Synagogue II see the references cited above in note 3. See also WHITE 1977, pp. 350352

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A theosebes with the same name is known from Lydian Philadelphia in the 3rd c. AD, but the name is not recorded in other Jewish inscriptions and papyri.33 A Christian Eustathius, who might have lived during the lifetime of the Jewish Eustathius, is known from Stobi. The name occurs in a mo-saic inscription commemorating the renovation and expansion of Episcopal Basilica I when Eustathius was bishop, probably early in the 5th century AD.34 The name is rare in Macedonia.35

8. WALL STUCCO FRAGM. WITH GRAFFITI. Stobi Inv. No. A-68-2. Fig. 9. Graffi ti in stucco on plaster fragment, broken all around. Stucco is buff

to orange in color. Fragment was set into plaster by M. Petrovski. Max. P.H. 0.116. Max. P.W. 0.112. H. of letters, 0.0070.015, vertical of psi in l. 6, 0.02.

This fragment was discovered on July 31, 1968, during excavation by . Vini in the fi ll above Synagogue II, 0.40 m below the fl oor level of the nave of the Central Basilica.36 Other fragments with graffi ti that were found in the fi ll below the basilica nave, reportedly even on the mosa-ic fl oor, were eventually placed by Vini and his staff inside the South-west Room of Synagogue II, which they had partially excavated.37 Those fragments were subsequently entered into the Stobi inventory by the joint American-Yugoslav Project in 1970, and are published below as Catalog Nos. 9ag. Dean Moe, who supervised excavations in the Central Basilica and Synagogues III for the joint project, considered the fragments to have originally been on two of the stuccoed walls of the Southwest Room of Synagogue II,38 after the discovery in 1975 that one large and two small

33. See IJO I, p. 72, Mac2.34. For the initial reports on Bishop Eustathius and the inscription see ALEKSOVA

19821983, pp. 5760, and fi g. 8, and ALEKSOVA 1986, pp. 3234, and fi g. 8 (better photo). The dates given by Aleksova for both phases of Episcopal Basilica I (the fl oor of which lies some 4 m below Episcopal Basilica II) are somewhat too early. Evidence for the later dates is discussed in WISEMAN 2006, pp. 796798. See also KOLARIK 1987, whose stylistic analysis of the mosaics of both phases is in accord with the later chronology.

35. See LGPN 4, p. 136, s.v. : the name is known in an inscription of the 2nd-3rd c. AD from Thessalonike and is represented by a monogram at Philippi.

36. His excavation was part of the preparation by the Conservation Institute of Mace-donia for site preservation during the 1960s. The results of that work included the restora-tion/preservation of the exterior walls of the Central Basilica, as well as the discovery and lifting of the mosaic fl oor in the main hall of Synagogue II. Vini recorded the discovery of this fragment and drew a sketch of it in his fi eld notebook, later designated Stobi Old Series NB 9, p. 49. He turned the fragment over to me at Stobi when the joint American-Yugoslav excavation project began in June 1970: see Stobi NB 01.32.

37. Personal communication from . Vini.38. As recorded as an addition to the inventory card, fi rst side of three faces, for A-70-

95ag.

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nine-branched menorahs had been drawn as graffi ti on the upper part of the west wall of the room.39

The existence of the graffi ti have been mentioned in several publica-tions: W-MZ 1971, p. 410 and note 101; Habas 2001, p. 74, note 122; IJO I, p. 6061.

[---] [---](..) C[. .] [---](---) (---)(?) (---) 5(?) [--)6 letters obliterated[----] eZol(os? a?) i(---)S[..] bare(?) [---]Of Gre(gorios?) KOROf the Jew(s?) KOR 5Bare (? or Open?) KOR(---)(illegible)AL[---]Lunate omega, sigma; the right diagonal of alpha, delta, and lambda

extends above the apex. The writer clearly found it more diffi cult to incise omicrons and other letters with curved lines than letters with straight lines. Lines 27 were aligned on the left and the second word in lines 46 were so spaced that they, too, were aligned. Random lines and scratches obscure parts of lines 2-4 and the letters (6?) of line 7 were intentionally erased.

Line 2. Perhaps or (---), but the former is unknown and the latter ignores the use of spaces between words on this fragment. To read nu requires accepting the odd placement of the right vertical, which is more deeply cut than the line of any other letter but is matched by some of the random and meaningless gashes in the fragment. Line 3. The dotted lambda may be a nu, which yields no useful word; part of a letter is at the right edge of the fragment. Lines 46. The list seems likely to have as the fi rst word of each line a possessive noun or a modifying adjective with something that can be abbreviated (---): e.g., , a dry measure from the Hebrew

39. The three menorahs are reported in WISEMAN 1976, pp. 295297, fi gs. 30 (pho-to), 31 (drawing of largest menorah). See also MOE 1977, pp. 154155, who publishes a useful plan on p. 155 that shows the main hall of Synagogue II and the eastern part of the Southwest Room, with the location of the menorah graffi ti marked.

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kor, which might be applied to land yielding such a measurable harvest; or , in measuring an irrigated vineyard from block to block, or in plural for logs, which might again refer to land that would produce abun-dant trees for cutting.40 But all restorations of (---) that yield sense with the fi rst word in each of lines 4 and 5 are masculine and cannot fi t with the likely feminine adjective in line 6, which was often used with other words for agricultural or arboreal land to indicate that it was bare or open.41 Could this be an instance of an ancient error in agreement of adjective with a noun? There are other types of lists possible with repetitions of (---), including , but some might seem inappropriate in a religious structure. Finally, we note that the use of (---) seems clearly to refer to KOP(---) as being something Jewish or possessed by Jews.42 On reading psi instead of phi, see the comments in fragment 9a.

9ag. SEVEN WALL STUCCO FRAGMENTS WITH GRAFFITI. a. Wall Stucco Fragment with Graffi ti. Stobi Inv. No. A-70-95a. Figure 10.Two fragments joined. Max. P.H. 0.016 Max. P.W. 0.08. H. of letters

0.0100.012. Lunate mu.[. ][] [ ] []M.? Q]uarto[s]M. Quartos[M.?] Quart[os]Probably the same name written three times, praenomen and cognomen

only. The upsilon is curious since there is no evidence for a vertical leg. The letter seems unlikely to be an omicron because it is completely open at the top. There is no trace of an iota after tau. There is a possible small lunate sigma following the gash and tall scratch at the end of line 2.

The cognomen Quartos is spelled in Greek and occurs at least four times in Macedonia,43 but the reading proposed above seems still the most reasonable in view of the constraints and the carelessness of the graffi ti writers. There are instances of omicron among the graffi ti: clumsily written, to be sure, but with the top closed. By extension we would expect the same distinction between phi and psi.

40. Examples from L.-S., s.v.41. L.-S., s.v. , I.42. On the use of words formed from , see the detailed discussion in WIL-

LIAMS 1997.43. LGPN 4, p. 200, s.v.

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b. Wall Stucco Fragment with Graffi to. Stobi Inv. No. I-70-95b. Figure 11.Single fragment. Max. P.W. 0.083. Max. P.H. 0.05. H. of letters 0.010,

bar of psi 0.012.[---]Bare (or Open)?See the feminine form possibly of this word in catalog item 8, lines 3

and 6, abovec. Wall Stucco Fragment with Graffi ti. (Neg. 75-133-30). Stobi Inv. No.

I-70-95c. Figure 12.Single fragment. Max. P.H. 0.068. Max. P.W. 0.058. H. of letters 0.003

0.008[---]] [---] ????Line 3. Different hand. The characters are not Greek and I do not recog-

nize them as Hebrew letters.d. Wall Stucco fragment with Graffi ti. Neg. 75-133-28. Stobi Inv. No.

I-70-95d. Figure 13.Single fragment. Mas. P.H. 0.07. Max. P.W. 0.074.Graffi ti of images. The symbol on the right may be a lulab and the

partial image on the left an ethrog. The lulab is a bundle of twigs, includ-ing a green palm branch with its leaves not yet unfolded, and shoots of myrtle and willow bound to the base of the palm stalk. The ethrog is a citron. Both were important in Jewish ritual (Feast of the Tabernacles) and often appeared in art together, especially in the company of a menorah.44 The reader will recall that three menorahs were among other graffi ti in the Southwest Room of Synagogue II, drawn and photographed still in situ on the east wall of the room. See above, catalog item 7 and Figure 8 for an ex-ample of both fl anking a menorah on a bronze stamp for a seal from Stobi.

e. Wall Stucco fragment with graffi to. Stobi Inv. No. A-70-95e. Figure 14.Single fragment with no letters. Max. P.H. 0.06. Max. P.W. 0.063The graffi to has a (short) series of curved fi gures, perhaps to show veg-

etation, e.g., blossoms arising from spread leaves.f. Wall Stucco fragment with graffi ti. Neg. 75-133-35. Stobi Inv. No.

I-70-95f. Figure 15. Single small fragment. Max. P. Dim. 0.042

44. GOODENOUGH 4, 1954, pp. 145166 for a discussion of the appearance, functi-on, and history of the lulab and ethrog.

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Poorly preserved letters in a single line. [---]Only the right diagonal of the fi rst letter is preserved; either alpha or

lambda. Iota is tilted slightly to the right, perhaps to avoid a damaged area. The fi nal letter is either alpha or lambda.

g. Stucco fragment with graffi ti. Stobi Inv. No. I-70-95g. Small fragment. Max. P. Dim. 0.03. Traces of possibly three illegible

letters along one edge. This fragment and fi ve other small fragments are not discussed further here or illustrated.

10. GREEK INSCRIPTION OF A CURATOR OF THE SYNAGOGUE. Stobi Inv. No. I-94-1. Figure 16.

Editions. Vini and Buzalkovska-Aleksova 2003; Vini 2004; Krikhaar 2011, p. 23, no. 32.

Circular marble paving slab bearing on its upper surface a Greek in-scription in 8 lines. Diam. 0.20. Th. 0.03. H. of letters 0.0130.02 (lines 14), 0.0080.014 (lines 58).

- - -. - 5 . Alexandros, Curator (of the synagogue), renovated the walkway of the

holy synagogue. A blessing on all.Quadrate epsilon, sigma, omega; broken-bar alpha; fi ve-bar xi. Vertical

line at apex of alpha, delta, and lambda, except four occurrences of right diagonal extension above the apex of alpha and lambda; long vertical in phi (0.021). Letters inconsistent in height and width. In line 6 the stone carver evidently forgot to write eta before sigma in the second word, and so sus-pended a relatively shallow vertical from the right end of the bar of the tau but which is shorter than the leg of the tau. A faint trace of a shallow line for a horizontal bar connecting the inserted vertical to the vertical of the sigma indicates a ligature eta-sigma. Stone damage: line 1, top of right vertical of nu is lost; line 4, right vertical of second nu destroyed; line 7, nu partially obscured. Lines 17 aligned on left; line 8 with smallest letters, and end of line slanted to follow curvature of stone.

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The inscription was excavated in 1994 or 199745 during preservation activities by . Vini for the Conservation Institute of Macedonia. Ac-cording to the two fi rst reports, the stone was recovered by Vini while he was in the process of strengthening and restoring the paving tiles and slabs in the middle of the south corridor of the atrium exo-narthex of the Cen-tral Basilica. The inscription had been reused in the corridor where it was found with the inscribed face down.46 Vini and Buzalkovska-Aleksova associate the inscription with Synagogue II, which was built in the early 4th century AD, and comment that the letter forms are appropriate for the later 3rd and early 4th century.47

There are a few errors in the transcriptions of the inscription. Vini 2004, p. 358, line 3, iota omitted; line 7, second gamma omitted. Vini and Buzalkovska-Aleksova 2003: there are no diacritical marks; line 1, zeta instead of the correct xi; line 3, omitted alpha at end of line.

COMMENTARY. Alexandros, a name that became popular throughout the Greek world from the time of Alexander the Great, remained one of the most frequent names found in Macedonia during Roman times, and was still spread widely through Hellenic lands.48 There are three certain oc-curences, and four more possible ones, on reserved seats in the Stobi theater. In one of those the name is written in full (masc. genitive) on a bisellium of the proedria, thereby indicating that he was a member of the decurio of Stobi.49 Alexandros was a Macedonian name, of course, not a Jewish name, but Greek names were frequent among the Jewish population of the Diaspora. Kroll pointed out that of the 30 known names of donors from the synagogue at Sardis, only two are HebrewThe remaining names are

45. The year is given as 1997 in VINI and BUZALKOVSKA-ALEKSOVA 2003, paragraph 1, but the inscription itself (which I examined at Stobi in 2005) bears the inven-tory number in red paint indicating the year was 1994. In VINI 2004, p. 257 the year of discovery is given as 1977, which must be a typo. KRIKHAAR 2011, p. 23, no. 32, in her brief caption accompanying a photo of the inscription, simply gives the correct inventory number. Presumably the correct year of the discovery is 1994, since one might inventory in a later year an object found earlier, but never the reverse.

46. VINI and BUZALKOVSKA-ALEKSOVA 2003, p. 1; VINI 2004, p. 257.47. VINI and BUZALKOVSKA-ALEKSOVA 2003, see text (pages not numbe-

red) and note 1 at end of article (on letter forms); VINI 2004, pp. 258259.48. See TATAKI ABPS, pp. 371, 378379, and p. 372, no. 19, for non-Roman names

of 1st to 3rd centuries AD. On Roman names with Alexandros, see the long list in TATAKI RPM, p. 613, s.v. . In LGPN 4, with Greek names from Macedonia, Thrace, and the Northern Regions of the Black Sea (published in 2005), there are 444 entries for , the great majority of them from Macedonia.

49. Catalog No. 39.

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Greek50 One of those Greek names is Alexandros, who was not only a Roman citizen (an Aurelius), but also a member of the Boule at Sardis.51

Lines 2-3. Alexandros was ,52 a title that occurs a number of times in Jewish inscriptions referring to a guardian or curator of a syna-gogue.53 The offi ce was at least sometimes held for a fi xed period of time, and often included the task of overseeing a building program for the syn-agogue, including works for which the paid or to which he contributed. Theodoros, archisynagogos of Aegina, for example, had ear-lier been phrontistes for four years while he built the synagogue from its foundations.54 His rank in the hierarchy of the synagogue seems to have been higher than that of archons, who were the majority members of the main administrative committee of a synagogue, and his functions generally involved property management.55 The previous editors took to be the nomen for Alexandros. Krikhaar, who provided a Dutch translation of the text from the accompanying photograph, compounded the error by attaching the alpha of to the end of the supposed second name, writing Alexandros Fronteistesa.56

Lines 5-6. The that Alexandros renovated is probably a cov-ered walkway on some of the sides of a courtyard of the synagogue. The in-scription was presumably displayed in or near the peripatos, perhaps even in the pavement of the walkway: the letters are deeply inscised and would long resist wear.

Lines 67. The mention of is unusual: the customary expression in Jewish inscriptions makes use of the superlative

50. KROLL 2001, p. 8.51. KROLL 2001, pp. 1617, no. 3, an inscription in a medallion of a mosaic dated

to the late 3rd c. AD.52. In the inscription is substituted for . 53. There is an excellent discussion with citations of a number of sources in IJO I, pp.

207209, in connection with a mosaic inscription in the Aegina synagogue (AD 300350), pp. 206207, Ach58.

54. See the inscription cited in the preceding note. His (presumed) son, also named Theodoros, later served as phrontistes and was the overseer of laying the mosaic fl oor pa-vement: IJO I, pp. 209210, Ach59. Cf. the inscription of Isakis, phrontistes of the fi rst synagogue at Side in Pamphylia, who was overseer of the laying of a marble fl oor: IJO II, pp. 462466, no. 219.

55. WILLIAMS 1994, pp. 134135; the discussion here concerns specifi cally Jewish communities in Rome, but the responsibilities of phrontistai are widely applicable in the Diaspora. On the functions of a phrontistes generally, see also IJO II, pp. 466469, on an inscription from Side in Pamphylia in which the Jewish offi ce was held along with muni-cipal offi ces (date: late 4th, early 5th c. AD).

56. KRIKHAAR 2011, p. 23.

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or .57 An example from Macedonia is an epitaph from Beroea, which was set up by an Alexandros for his mother-in-law Marea and cites at the end that a violater of the tomb is to pay an expensive penalty .58

Line 8. , a blessing on all, is a frequent benediction in Jewish inscriptions written in Greek. This fi nal blessing may be ex-clusively Jewish.59

Date. There is no doubt that there was a courtyard and a (l. 13 of the Polycharmos inscription) with Synagogue I, and there is some evidence for a colonnaded atrium with Synagogue II, probably below the atrium area of the Central Basilica. The inscription was found reused in the corridor of the same atrium where the column with the inscription of Polycharmos was reused. We might reasonably suppose that both had been reused fi rst in a courtyard of Synagogue II before their use in the Cen-tral Basilica, and/or that the peripatos of Alexandros and the tetrastoon of Polycharmos were features of the same courtyard of Synagogue I.

Letter forms provide a shaky basis for assigning a date to an inscription: I lean toward a range of dates, though a range short enough to be particu-larly useful is diffi cult to confi rm. A few observations follow comparing the inscription with others known to be from Synagogue I. The inscription contains no lunate letters and has quadrate epsilon, sigma, and omega, as well as one ligature. The Polycharmos inscription on a column has only one lunate letter, the omega; quadrate epsilon and sigma, but not omicron and theta, which are circular; fi ve-barred xi; and several ligatures. The mar-ble plaque of Polycharmos (above, catalog item 1), and the copper votive plaque of Posidonia (above, catalog item 6), have exclusively quadrate let-ters. There is also a ligature in 10, line 6, and several on the marble plaque. The dipinti (above, catalog items 2-5) contain lunate letters and no quad-rate forms: they were found in Synogogue 1 and even refer specifi cally to Polycharmos. One might argue that in the last mentioned not only was a different craftsman at work, but also he was working in a different medium. Still, such arguments alone are not convincing: there is much evidence in

57. For the use of the superlative see, e.g. CIJ 754, 781, 867. See IJO II, pp. 123127, no. 20 (line 5), an inscription from Hyllarima in Caria. The discussion on pp. 125127 regarding the synagogue as a holy place and the expression of the concept in Jewish in-scriptions written in Greek is a very useful one, and numerous sources are cited. A particu-larly relevant example of designating the synagogue as a holy place is the Polycharmos inscription on a column found at Stobi in 1931, lines 1011: .

58. EKM I, pp. 388389, no. 455, ll. 1213.59. IJO I, pp. 4145, Thr1: two mosaic panels, east (lines 3-4) and west (line 4), dating

250300 AD, with discussion and cited parallels.

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the inscriptions of the theater seats that quadrate and lunate letters were both in use during the second half of the 2nd and through the 3rd centuries, a circumstance that refl ects broadly the conclusions of Papazoglou.60 The mixture of lunate and quadrate forms of the same letters in an inscription is a more useful criterion than single-shape forms, which seem to have a longer life. The fi ve- and six-barred xi, diamond-shaped omicron, theta, and phi, along with alphas, lambdas and deltas that have the right leg ex-tending above the apex as if half a hasta, were all considered indicators of third century (though some occur by the late 2nd century) by Papazoglou. The lunate sigma and mu were more typical of the second century.61 By such reckoning we might date the dipinti to the 2nd century, the column of Polycharmos and the commemoration of Alexandros peripatos to the late 2nd or 3rd century, the votive of Posidonia to the 2nd or 3rd century, and the marble plaque somewhat later in the third.

These fi ne distinctions, however, place more weight on letter forms than I am able to accept, even though the range of dates is agreeable.62 The archaeological evidence indicates that in the 2nd century Polycharmos do-nated a part of his home (which was in existence in the 1st century AD) for the use of the Jewish community and remodeled some parts of it, includ-ing the main hall. The destruction debris (late 3rd century) of the main hall covered most of the dipinti; and the votive plaque of Posidonia lay beneath the underpinning of the mosaic of Synagogue II (early 4th century). The column bearing the long inscription of Polycharmos must belong to the 2nd-century renovation and expansion of the main hall in the 2nd century. N. Vuli may have been correct even in his argument that traces of the fi rst line of the inscription yield a date of AD 163/164.63

60. See her comments on letter forms of dated inscriptions from Macedonia, PAPA-ZOGLOU 1963, pp. 522524.

61. PAPAZOGLOU 1963, pp. 523524.62. See DUTHOY 1976, p. 346. In his criteria for dating inscriptions, J is the symbol

he uses for letter forms, and he comments as follows on this particular criterion: La date jai propose est seulement donne titre documentaire. Personellement nous nous m-fi ons de cette manire dater. I agree with Duthoy.

63. See VULI 1932. His proposal that the traces of line 1 should be read as a date of the Macedonian era, (= 311 = 163/164 AD) has been controversial since its publica-tion, and the inscription has been dated variously by commentators from the 2nd to the 4th century. HABAS 2001, p. 50, note 27, provides sources for many of the dates proposed. In her article (pp. 4178) she discusses in detail the internal evidence from the inscription, the archaeological evidence for Polycharmos and for the successive synagogues, and as-pects of Roman and Jewish law in connection with the protection of the gift of Polychar-mos. She dates the inscription to the 2nd century, probably to 163/4 (p. 43).

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If the letter forms do prove eventually to be correct and the marble plaque then dates to the 3rd century, the donor might still have been a younger Polycharmos, perhaps a grandson of the original donor of the space. As for the inscription I-94-1, the renovation of the peripatos would be suitable for either of the successive synagogues, and the letter forms suggest a date in the late 2nd or sometime in the 3rd century. I hesitantly suggest that an association with Synagogue I is more likely than with Synagogue II.64

ABBREVIATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

ALEKSOVA, B. 1982-1983. The Old Episcopal Basilica at Stobi, Archaeo-logia Iugoslavica 32-33, pp. 50-62.

_____. 1986. The Early Christian Basilicas at Stobi, XXXIII Corso di Cultura sullArte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna, 15/22 marzo 1986, pp. 13-81.

DUTHOY, R. 1978. Les *Augustales, ANRW II, 16.2, pp. 1254-1332.EAM I = , ., , . 1985. ,

, .EKM I = , ., , .. 1998.

. , , Athens.GOODENOUGH, E. R. 1954. Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period,

vol. 4: The Problem of Method. Symbols from Jewish Cult. New York.HABAS, E. 2001. The Dedication of Polycharmos from Stobi: Problems of

Dating and Interpretation, JQR 92, Nos. 1-2, pp. 41-78. IJO I, III = D. Noy, D. 2004. Inscriptiones Judaicae Orientis I, III. Tbingen. IJO II = Ameling, W. 2004. Inscriptiones Judaicae Orientis II. Tbingen.

64. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. A number of scholars and friends responded to my requests for help in preparing this article. Dr. Nade Proeva of the University of Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, sent me a copy of the 2004 article by . Vini. Slavica Babamova, Custodian of Epigraphy at the Museum of Macedonia in Skopje, was very helpful with information about the current exhibition in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and the related pu-blication by D. Krikhaar, concerning Stobi inscription I-94-1, which is part of the exhi-bition. The photo of I-94-1 in Figure 16 was supplied on behalf of the National Museum of Macedonia by Silvana Blaevska, Director of the National Institute of Stobi and of the new Stobi excavations. Professor Emeritus Malcolm Bell of the University of Virginia, informed of current publication plans for the inscription on the gold phiale of Caltayuturo, Sicily. At Boston University Michael Hamilton, head of photography for the Department of Archaeology, enhanced the image of I-94-1 and added the scale. Loren Sparling, admi-nistrative assistant, and research assistants Emory Holland and Marshall Schurtz, who are the staff of the Wiseman Archives Project, scanned and enhanced all the other images in this article and helped in a number of other ways with the Stobi archives. I acknowledge with sincere thanks the kind help I received from all.

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KOLARIK, R. 1987. Mosaics of the Early Church at Stobi, DOP 41, pp. 295-306.

KOLARIK, R. and M. PETROVSKI. 1975. Technical Observations on Mosaics at Stobi, in J. Wiseman, ed., Studies in the Antiquities of Stobi II, Beograd, pp. 65-109.

KRAABEL, A. T. 1979. The Diaspora Synagogue: Archaeological and Epi-graphic Evidence since Sukenik, ANRW II.19.1, pp. 477-510.

KRIKHAAR, DSIRE. 2011. Ongekende Schoonheid. Ikonen uit Macedoni (Unimagined Beauty. Ikons from Macedonia). Waanders Publishers and Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht. (In Dutch, with summaries in English and Macedonian.)

KROLL, J. 2001. The Greek Inscriptions of the Sardis Synagogue, HTR 94.1, pp. 7-8, 11, and nos. 13-47.

LGPN = Fraser, P. M. and E. Matthews, eds. 19872005. A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, vols 1-4, Oxford.

MANO-ZISSI, Dj. 1981. Hellenism and the Orient in Stobi, in B. Aleksova and J. Wiseman, Studies in the Antiquities of Stobi III, Titov Veles, pp. 115-132.

MOE, D. 1977. The Cross and the Menorah, Archaeology 30, pp. 148-157.PAPAZOGLOU, F. 1963. Notes dpigraphie et de topographie macdoni-

ennes, BCH 87, pp. 517-544.PETROVI, J. 1932. Iskopavanje u Stobima 1931, Starinar 7, pp. 8186;

summary in German, pp. 135-136.POEHLMAN, W. 1981. The Polycharmos Inscription and Synagogue I at

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J. Wiseman, idovi u Stobima

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SAETAK - SUMMARIUM

IDOVI U STOBIMA

idovska zajednica bila je djelatna u Stobima sasvim sigurno od II. do sredine V. stoljea. U tom vremenskom razdoblju, dvije susljedne graevine sluile su im za vjerske i druge svrhe (sinagoga I. i II.). U lanku je predstavljeno nekoliko ne-objavljenih idovskih natpisa na kamenu, metalu, na oslikanim povrinama ili pak sauvanih kao grafi ti, a obuhvaen je i poneki od dosad objavljenih natpisa. Rasprav-ljena je i povezanost tih natpisa s natpisom koji spominje Tiberija Klaudija Poliharma.

Fig. 1. No. 1ae, l.

Fig. 2.No. 1fk.

Fig. 3. No. 2. Fig. 4. No. 3.

Fig. 5. No. 4. Fig. 6. No. 5.

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Fig. 7.No. 6.

Fig. 8. No. 7.

Fig. 9.No. 8.

Fig. 10. No. 9a. Fig. 11. No. 9b.

Fig. 12. No. 9c.

Fig. 13. No. 9d. Fig. 14. No. 9e.

Fig. 15.No. 9f.

Fig. 16.No. 10.