JORDAN, D. R., Two Christian Prayers from Southeastern Sicily , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 25:3 (1984) p.297 Two Christian Prayers from Southeastern Sicily D. R. Jordan For P.A.C. and his vines at Kvpa~ BpvO'T/ T HE AREA between Comiso and Noto in southeastern Sicily has yielded several Christian inscriptions of interest to the student of rural religious expression in the early Byzantine period. They are a group of prayers, most concerning vineyards, and they have magical overtones.1 Some are quite difficult to read, and few are adequately edited. In 1959 M. Burzachechi published two of them, each inscribed on a tufa tablet; they had been found by a farmer in his field in an area near Comiso known as Crucidda and are now housed in the Antiqua­ rium at Ragusa.2 The two tablets have similar magical signs; both pray­ ers were inscribed on behalf of a man named Paul; and the lettering and ligatures in both (see Figures 1 and 2) are clearly, as Burzachechi has noted, the work of one inscriber. Using Burzachechi's excellent photographs of the two texts, I offer suggestions for improved tran­ scriptions, in the hope that they will encourage scholars to restudy, from autopsy where possible, the whole group from the area. 1. Burzachechi no. I with Tav. I. The left- and right-hand edges and possibly the bottom edge as well are preserved. Maximum preserved height 0.225 m, width 0.255. Figure 1. 1 For a summary and the bibliography and for an introduction to inscribed Christian agricultural prayers in general see G. Manganaro, "Nuovi documenti magici della Sicilia orientale," RendLinc VIII.18 (1963) 57-74. The texts from between Comiso and Noto include an exorcism (?) from near Ragusa (SEG 18.415) and five prayers for vine­ yards, one on terracotta, from near Palazzolo Acreide (SEG 18.408), two on limestone, from near Noto (ed. Manganaro) and from an unrecorded spot near Comiso (SEG 18.414, infra n.l0, and two on tufa, from Crucidda near Comiso (discussed here). On palaeographical grounds Manganaro would assign the prayer from near Noto to the end of the fifth or the first half of the sixth century and those from near Comiso to the fifth century. All six prayers are roughly contemporary, as inspection of the published photographs makes obvious, whatever the precise absolute chronology may be. 2 M. Burzachechi, "Nuove iscrizioni greche cristiane di Com iso, " RendLinc VIII.14 (1959) 403-10, a paper presented to the Lincei in their session of 1 June 1950. Cj J. and L. Robert, BuiUp. 1961, 865, and Manganaro (supra n.O 63. The tracings shown below were made from the photographs that Burzachechi published. 297 JORDAN, D. R., Two Christian Prayers from Southeastern Sicily , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 25:3 (1984) p.297 298 TWO CHRISTIAN PRAYERS FROM SICILY Burzachechi's text: 'A , IL1]II. 11'a- - - - - - - - Xp (C.UT) E, <> 11'Aoc.8vlla k] a [UTE­ pa~ '~ T]- " \ '91 ~" 011 ovpalloll KapTOV uopEa~ ~ , T1]1I 8aAaUU1]II, 11'Aoi8v1l01l KE \ \,." \ ~ Kap1'f'lfi; c.~ TOll aJL11'EI\,- ollall HavAov. o Cristo, tu che hai moltiplicato Ie stelle (?) nel cielo e i doni del cibo (?) del mare, moltiplica anche i frutti nella vigna di Paolo. Revision: 1 A~ fa[j3pc.1]A (?) _ co.12_] 2 Xp(urr)E <> 11'Aoc.8V~'i aq-[TEpa~ is T]- 3 011 ~o~G') TQJJBop E~~ , ~ 8 '1.' '1.'8 ' 4 al\,aUU~I\,Oc. VIIO~E 5 ~!s!!p1'f'lfi; iii T01!...9IL11'EA- " , --6 o~p Hf!YAov. 7 Magical signs 8 Magical signs 2, 4 I. 7TATj9vv- 3 KAP lapis I. vOOJP 4/5 I. Kat TOV<; Kap7TOV<; 3 Ei<; 5/6 I. alL7TEAmVa Amel. Galbriel (?) - - -]. Christ, who hast multiplied stars in the sky and the water in the sea, multiply also the fruits in the vineyard of Paul. Line 1 is set off the from the rest of the text by a horizontal line beneath it, and at the left there is a vertical; the stone is broken away just above the letters, but there was probably another horizontal there. We may compare the treatment in 2.4-5 below, where words are enclosed in boxes arranged side by side (see Figure 2). There the words seem to be mostly names of angels. The first word Burzachechi transcribes AMHN; but in inscribed prayers, aIL";'1I is usually found not at the beginnings but at the ends.4 Because nu is normally written N rather than ~ in both texts5 and because angels' names frequently end in -1]A, I transcribe the word not AMHN but AMRA and assume a hitherto (as far as I know) unattested name of an angel.6 The ver- 3 For ov - v see F. T. Gignac, A Grammar of the Greek Papyri of the Roman and Byzantine Periods I (Testi e documenti 55 [Milan 1976]) 214. 4 On the use of the word see P. Glaue, RAC 1 (950) 378-80 s. V., and F. Cabrol, DACL 1.1 (924) 1554-73, esp. "L'Amen dans I'epigraphie et dans les papyrus," 1563-71. Several of the sayings of Jesus in the Gospels and in other early Christian literature begin alLr,v, but the parallelism may be deceptive, for there the word is invariably part of the phrase awrjll (yap) AEYW v,ii,v (or 0"0'); for the expression see 1. Strugnell, '" Amen, I say unto you' in the Sayings of Jesus and in Early Christian Literature," HThR 67 (974) 177-82, with the bibliography cited there. 5 The one clear exception is the ~ in AMIIEA0&40( at 2.3. 6 On angels in general see J. Michl, RAC 5 (962) 53-258 s. v. "Engel," esp. "Katalog der Engelnamen" 200-39, for examples of angelic names ending -TjA. More recent lists: JORDAN, D. R., Two Christian Prayers from Southeastern Sicily , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 25:3 (1984) p.297 D. R. JORDAN 299 Figure 1 tical that follows I interpret as the common boundary of two adjacent boxes like those in 2. What is left is compatible with the letters r A, lA, PA, TA, and A. [a[l3p,:ryA is an obvious possibility;7 I restore it simply exempli gratia, for the name here, like some of those in 2, may be unattested outside these texts. Burzachechi notes that the phrase KapTov Bopea~ '~ (for Kat apTOV Bwpeas e'8) T7}V (JaAaCTCT1JV as he reads it in line 3 seems somewhat strange, but he suggests that "gifts of bread in the sea" may mean simply 'fish' and that, in a spot as close to the sea as Comiso (ea 16 km), 'fish' may have come to mean, by extension, 'food' in general. Such a meaning is not, as far as I know, attested elsewhere. There is no second sigma in line 3;8 Burzachechi's text should have been printed Bopea < ~ > '~. In reading the line as I do, I assume three G. Davidson, A Dictionary of Angels, Including the Fallen Angels (New York/London 1967), and J.-H. Niggemeyer, Beschworungsformel aus dem "Buch der Geheimnisse" (Sejiir ha-Razim); Zur Topologie der magischen Rede [Judaistische Texte u. Studien 3 (I 975) l 225-38. We may compare the name AJ..''Y}A. here with A,.ua'Y}A. at 2.5 (see infra n.12). 7 We may compare the invocation of Gabriel in the inscribed prayer from near Pa­ lazzolo Acreide (supra n.1: SEG 18.408) for a vineyard not far from Comiso. 8 Noted by Manganaro (supra n.1) 63 n.35, who reads oopEa~, T1)1I but follows Bur­ zachechi otherwise. JORDAN, D. R., Two Christian Prayers from Southeastern Sicily , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 25:3 (1984) p.297 300 TWO CHRISTIAN PRAYERS FROM SICILY anomalies: an inconsistency in the spellings Kai and elr; here but KE and ir; in the next lines, an inconcinnity in the presence of an article before 'water' and its absence before 'stars' in the parallel phrases in lines 2-3, and a mistake on the stone, KAP for KAI. The assump­ tions are fewer and make a smoother text than those that Burza­ chechi's reading requires: unidiomatic crasis in Kap'TOV, awkwardness . h h ., ~I~"" fJ 'I. ' 'fi h' 'fi d' m t e prase ap'TOV vwpEar; E(.~ 'T71 v al\acrcr71 v = S = 00 , haplography, and the late simplification Ei~ - '~. The structure of the resulting prayer may be compared to that of an­ other agricultural prayer, which shows the same general formula. It is a prayer for silkworms that is preserved in a sixteenth-century manu­ script (Marc.gr.app. II 163) but is itself no doubt considerably older: , • fJ ' 'I. 'fJ "'I. I •• 'I. 'fJ KVP('E 0 EO~ .•• , 7r1\71 vvov 'TOVr; crKwl\71Ka~ 'TOV'TO~, w~ E7rI\71 vva~ 'T(l~ acr'TEpa~ 'TOV ovpavov Kat 'TOV afJ-/-wv 7rapa 'TO XEtAOr; 'TTjr; fJa­ AacrCT71~.9 2. Burzachechi no. III with Tav. III and IV. Part of right-hand edge preserved. Maximum preserved height 0.12 m, maximum preserved width 0.31. Figure 2. The back shows traces of magical signs. Burzachechi's text: - - - [K]ap7r- - - - - - - - P ACKEA fJ-E'Ta8ovAor; IIavAov (.8 - - - CIIATON 'TOV KOt'TOV av'Tov t 'A{3(.fJ-T,A. AacrfJT, v. 'AfJ-WT,A. - - - - '~ao, 'A,aT,p. Revision: [_ca..1 1_ (e.g.) 7rAoifJvvov KE] [ '] [' \ ca8 "] 2 ~ ~ap7r vr; KE - - - 'T71r; 3 [xo]par; KE a~or; II~ Aov. 'T8"= [] "'''''' ".... I , 4 E E7r a'TOV 'TOV KO(''TOV av- --..-" --'ToW). t 5 A{3(.~. AacrfJ71A. AfJ-W"®: 6 - C!!.,. - ~ao. A'aw 3 l. [xw]pa~ Kat AMIIEAO O( la- pis: I. alL1TEAWllo" 4 I. athov A YTO lapis [Multiply also the] fruits [and the ... ] of the land and the vineyard of Paul. Look upon this pen (?) of his. The supplements that I offer for 2 are simply exempli gratia. In line 3, the unattested fJ-E'Ta80vAO~, which Burzachechi offers without comment, arouses doubt about the transcription. If the word 9 Edited by F. Pradel, Griechische und suditalienische Beschworungen. Gebete und Re­ zepte des Mitte/a/ters (RGVV 3.3 [Giessen 1907]) 16; Pradel cites (39-40) several bibli­ cal passages with similar expressions of analogy. JORDAN, D. R., Two Christian Prayers from Southeastern Sicily , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 25:3 (1984) p.297 D. R. JORDAN 301 Figure 2 begins instead with the final alpha of his PACKEA and if, as the same configuration at the end of 1.5 suggests, the next letters repre­ sent MIlE, then some form of cq . .l,1TEA.Ow is surely expected, and with this clue we may untangle the ligature. However, there seems to be an extra diagonal stroke in the configuration A that forces a tran­ scription AMIIEAO H OC. The stroke and perhaps also the rendering of nu as H may be the result of the inscriber's difficulty with the awkward ligature. The spelling a for av, as assumed in one instance in line 4, is frequently attested.lO Since line 3 concerns Paul's land (?) and vine­ yard, the text is obviously another prayer, like 1 and most other inscribed prayers from this part of Sicily,n for increase in harvest. We 10 For av - a, particularly in forms of aVTo<;" see Gignac (supra n.3) 226-27. 11 The limestone inscription SEG 18.414 (now Burzachechi [supra n.21 405-07 no. II) is now in such a badly damaged state that our knowledge of its text depends largely on a drawing published in 1757, which Burzachechi reproduces. The text has phrases in common with 1 and 2 and magical signs like those in 1, and Burzachechi considers the vineyard concerned to be in fact that of the Paul of 1 and 2. However, according to the drawing at least, the ligatures in the limestone prayer are less thick and frequent than in those two; its writing seems somewhat more formal; and in any case Paul is not named in it. I assume, therefore, a different inscriber and a different vineyard but a common origin, perhaps a handbook somewhat like the manuscript edited by Pradel (supra n.9). For an example of two virtually identical magico-religious agricultural prayers meant to affect two different farms, c1 IG XIV 2481 and 2494, from widely distant findspots, in the Departements of Drome and of Vaucluse, respectively, in southern France. JORDAN, D. R., Two Christian Prayers from Southeastern Sicily , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 25:3 (1984) p.297 302 TWO CHRISTIAN PRAYERS FROM SICILY may expect, then, some such reference in the request in lines 3-4. Apparently the only agricultural meaning of KOl.rOI) that would be at all appropriate here is 'pen' - i.e. a pen for animals. In KOlTOY we may, however, have a mistake for KOIllOY - i.e. K-r}7Tov-the in­ scriber having omitted the second vertical of pi. I assume that the last letter of A YTOY simply has an extra stroke and that the resulting U is inadvertent. The nomina sacra in line 5 are very much like those in another Christian prayer for a vineyard, a limestone inscription said also to come from near Comiso and now housed in the Museo Civico at Catania (SEG 18.414). There they read A{3t/J:r{A Aauc/>E~~ AI-W'YIA EAOE~.12 The broken letters that begin line 6 of our text do not seem compatible, however, with the fourth word of that sequence. As for the other names, ~ao (E or r) may be a variant of law 'Yahweh', and A,a'YIP is apparently a variant of the name of the fallen angel A,a'J)A.13 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA September, 1984 12 Aaufj>Ev Burzachechi; EAOE~ or EAOE~. Aa!Tfh,A and Aaufj>E~ (IA or N) look like mere scribal variants of the same name, whatever its origin; it is not a normal angelic name of the type composed of a Semitic root plus -'f/A, for Aau(J- or Aauc/>-, as the anonymous referee has kindly pointed out, cannot be Semitic; he suggests simply a "word of power" rather than an angel's name. I leave the matter to specialists. AIJUX'f/A he suggests may contain the element law (Yahweh: infra n.13) in its third and fourth letters; it would then be an expansion of the angelic name A""'f/A read at 1.1. He com­ pares the name Ammiel (see Davidson [supra n.6] 61). 13 law: W. Fauth, KIPauly 2 (1967) 1314-19 s. v. A~a'f/A: Michl (supra n.6) 206 no. 26, Davidson (supra n.6) 63; this angel does not seem to appear elsewhere as a pro­ tector of vineyards.