φιλοτιμία καλεῖ τέχν' ὑπερόντα κτλ. -> ambition for honor is calling superior sons ... (Inscription on church wall, Constantinople)

[trkyem]

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Hi,

Can you please help me with this translation? I hope it does not exceed the limit....

[billberg23]

Welcome back, trkyem!  Here is the raw text, as it seems to read.  Names, letter forms, and degenerate spelliing suggest a very late date.  There seems to be an invocation of one "Nicephorus" and an association with one or more of the Byzantine emperors named "Constantine," though it's not clear whether these names belong to the eighth century or to the tenth (Constantine VII?  Constantine VIII?  Nicephorus Phocas?  Nicephorus the historian, patriarch of Constantinople 8th-9th cent.?)  Alternatively, it may be an earlier Nicephorus;  he seems to be invoked as υ[ἱ]ὲ Ἀρέστου, "son of Arestes (misspelling of 'Orestes')."  "Orestes" was a name common to a number of public figures in the fifth century.  
  
I suspect the individual lines continued onto another stone, now separated, that once adjoined this stone.  Let's give others time to see what they can make of it.  It's an intriguing inscription, and apparently full of intrigue!

[              ΦΙΛΟΤΙΜΙΑ KA]ΛΕΙ ΤΕΧΝ' ΥΠΕΡΟΝΤΑ·  
[         ΟΥΚ ΟΙΔΑΤΕ; ΑΛΛ'] ΕΙΠΕ ΠΟΤ'·  ΚΑΙ ΤΙΣ;  
[ ΑΙΤΙΟΣ ΤΟΙΟΥΤ' ΕΡΓΟΥ ] ΜΑΛΛΙΣΤΑ ΩΣ ΥΕ ΑΡΕΣΤΟΥ·
[ΑΡΧΙΕΡΕΥ                ΝΥΝ] ΔΕΡΚΩΝ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΕ Ο ΗΜΩΝ  
[                                    ] ΔΗΠΟΥ ΜΑΛΛΙΣΤΑ ΟΝΤΟΣ
[ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ             ] ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥ ΤΕ ΔΑΝΙΗΛ  
[ΚΑΙ ΓΑΡ ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΣ ΚΩΝ]ΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥ·  ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΣ  
[                                    ] ΕΝΘΑΔΕ ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ·

Where does the inscription come from, trkyem?

[trkyem]

Glad to be back! Thank you. The inscription is from Istanbul.

[trkyem]

By the way, there's actually more to the inscription. I sent only a portion of it so it wouldn't exceed the limit. If you wan't to use it for reference you can look at the images below. Thanks a lot!

[billberg23]

Aha!  So the rest of the inscription is to the left, with the big circular wreath dividing whole sentences.  No wonder we couldn't read it!

Unfortunately, the new portions you've just revealed are too faint and/or blurry to read, and of course they far exceed the 12-word limit.  If you live in Istanbul, perhaps you can go back and re-photograph those portions more clearly.  You could then hire someone here to translate them, advertising under our "Post a Translation Job!" forum.

[trkyem]

Really? It's too blurry to read? That's disappointing. Unfortunately I won't have the chance to re-photograph it, but thanks a lot:) So do you think this inscription is again commemorating someone; in this case, the good honest man? And if it says "here lies", then is his grave right in front of the church wall?

[billberg23]

It's too blurry to read?

Not entirely.  You'll notice that I've changed the text (and the title) in my first message, based on what I was able to read from your latest photos.  But there's still not enough text for a coherent translation.

So do you think this inscription is again commemorating someone; in this case, the good honest man? And if it says "here lies", then is his grave right in front of the church wall?

Based on your new photos, I no longer feel confident about that.  The new text only seems to indicate that Athanasius had a close relationship with one of the emperors named "Constantine."  Perhaps someone will come along to help us understand this puzzling inscription.  Is it possible that it's been published somewhere?

[trkyem]

Wow! Now I'm even more curious about it. I'm not sure if it could have been published before. The inscription is in an unseen corner and if the locals hadn't showed it, I would not have seen it either.

[billberg23]

Ιs it a ruin?  Can we know the name of the church (or mosque, if it is now a mosque?).  Can we find it listed, for example, here (http://romeartlover.tripod.com/Istanbu3.html) or here (http://www.atlantaserbs.com/learnmore/monasteries_and_towns/Greek-Ort-Constantinople.htm)?  Judging from your photographs, the inscription actually covers the entire wall, and we have been studying only a small portion of it.  It would be very surprising if it has not been published, since it seems so significant — full of excitement and intrigue ("Didn't you know?  Someone must have told you!", it says after the first line about "ambition for honor"), full of names of historical personages;  even its form — as if from a great man's speech, now monumentalized for public view — and does the empty space within the wreath tie it to the Iconoclastic period?  If it's never been transcribed and researched before, what a wonderful opportunity for scholarly research!

[trkyem]

I checked the sites you have written, but unfortunately it's not any of them. The church is now a mosque in Bahcekoy, Istanbul. I wish we could figure out what the inscription really is about. The following site shows the only information I could find regarding the topic in Turkish resources. http://www.istanbulkulturenvanteri.gov.tr/kentsel-sivil-mimari/detay/envanter_id/54945 You can see a photo of the church(mosque) and where it is on the map. Sorry for the late reply by the way...

[RKAT]

Ambition urges you to serve Art..

[billberg23]

Caterina, the κ of τέκνα is aspirated into χ before the δασεία of ὑπερόντα.  In Byzantine times, they didn't pay attention to the semivowel ν.