Early Christian Inscriptions of Crete

Abstract

This inscription appears to be either Jewish or Judeo-Christian. If it is Jewish, it is the second that has come down to us from Crete. An inscription from Arcades is also apparently Jewish, to judge by the names 'JIc%r-o9 and 'IovSa.'1 The above inscription may be of the Roman period or very early Christian period, at a time when there was very little differentiation between Christians and Jews. The letter forms tend to date the inscription as first or second century after Christ. The adjective roprvvia implies that the deceased was either born at, or came from, Gortyna. She is called wrpEo-/vrepa and apXrwvvayvytcr-oa of Kisamos. Thus there must have been a synagogue at Kisamos, as there surely must have existed synagogues at Gortyna and other large cities of Crete. This is the only occurrence of the name Sophia in Jewish inscriptions.2 The term 1rpEcr3vrEpa implies that the deceased either was the wife of a 1TpecrftvrpoS or she received this as an honorary title, since it was often bestowed upon women. The word apXtcvvayyLcro--a implies either that her husband was, in addition, an apXtovvaaycoyo or that she received this as a second

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