Research Article

Heliodoros or the Fate of a Christian Councilman of Perinthos During the Great Persecution

Volume: 14 May 15, 2017
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Heliodoros or the Fate of a Christian Councilman of Perinthos During the Great Persecution

Abstract

This paper discusses a sarcophagus that was found in Gemlik (the ancient city of Kios) some years ago. It bears a longer than usual inscription with many orthographical and some grammatical errors. A certain Eikadios bought the sarcophagus for the burial of his father Heliodoros, who had been a bouleutes and gerousiarches of the city of Thracian Herakleia (Perinthos). In Kios Heliodoros had died as a Christian, but was still unburied, when Eikadios had come there. He had acquired a burial place for him and had taken care for his father’s entombment. In the inscription Eikadios implores the Christian community of Kios to provide for the protection of the sarcophagus, and additionally appointed his sister to a guardian of the burial place and the sarcophagus. By allusions to the name change of Perinthos—which in the inscription is referred to as ‹New Herakleia›— and to the splitting up of the province Thracia into four subprovinces, we can date the inscription into the period after AD 293. Other observations suggest that the death of Heliodoros happened during the last noteworthy persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, that is in the time between February 303 and the so-called Edict of Milan (February 313). Although many things remain obscure, this inscription is an important new testimony for the situation of Christians during the Great Persecution.

Keywords

References

  1. N. Asgari, Die Halbfabrikate kleinasiatischer Girlandensarkophage und ihre Herkunft, AA 1977, 329-380.
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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

-

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Johannes Nollé This is me
Germany

Publication Date

May 15, 2017

Submission Date

June 3, 2016

Acceptance Date

-

Published in Issue

Year 2017 Volume: 14

APA
Alkan, M., & Nollé, J. (2017). Heliodoros or the Fate of a Christian Councilman of Perinthos During the Great Persecution. Gephyra, 14, 117-132. https://doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.318455
AMA
1.Alkan M, Nollé J. Heliodoros or the Fate of a Christian Councilman of Perinthos During the Great Persecution. GEPHYRA. 2017;14:117-132. doi:10.37095/gephyra.318455
Chicago
Alkan, Mehmet, and Johannes Nollé. 2017. “Heliodoros or the Fate of a Christian Councilman of Perinthos During the Great Persecution”. Gephyra 14 (May): 117-32. https://doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.318455.
EndNote
Alkan M, Nollé J (May 1, 2017) Heliodoros or the Fate of a Christian Councilman of Perinthos During the Great Persecution. Gephyra 14 117–132.
IEEE
[1]M. Alkan and J. Nollé, “Heliodoros or the Fate of a Christian Councilman of Perinthos During the Great Persecution”, GEPHYRA, vol. 14, pp. 117–132, May 2017, doi: 10.37095/gephyra.318455.
ISNAD
Alkan, Mehmet - Nollé, Johannes. “Heliodoros or the Fate of a Christian Councilman of Perinthos During the Great Persecution”. Gephyra 14 (May 1, 2017): 117-132. https://doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.318455.
JAMA
1.Alkan M, Nollé J. Heliodoros or the Fate of a Christian Councilman of Perinthos During the Great Persecution. GEPHYRA. 2017;14:117–132.
MLA
Alkan, Mehmet, and Johannes Nollé. “Heliodoros or the Fate of a Christian Councilman of Perinthos During the Great Persecution”. Gephyra, vol. 14, May 2017, pp. 117-32, doi:10.37095/gephyra.318455.
Vancouver
1.Mehmet Alkan, Johannes Nollé. Heliodoros or the Fate of a Christian Councilman of Perinthos During the Great Persecution. GEPHYRA. 2017 May 1;14:117-32. doi:10.37095/gephyra.318455

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