• 1 Meimaris and Kritikakou-Nikolaropoulou 2005 and 2008. Ghor es-Safi (the biblical Zoar [cf. Gen 19, (...)

1The aim of this work is to bring to light and to edit a new funerary inscription from Jordan. It is currently preserved in the Jordan Ahli Bank Numismatic Museum, whose manager, Dr. Hassan al-Zuod, has kindly allowed us to study and publish it. Although there is no documentary evidence for its provenance, the parallels of its iconography and the coincidence of its epigraphic formulas with those from funerary inscriptions found in Ghor es-Safi (ancient Zoara; fig. 1) suggest that the piece comes from this Jordanian site, whose epigraphy has been studied in details by Meimaris and Kritikakou-Nikolaropoulou. 1

• 2 Canova 1954, tavola II.
• 3 Besides, above the incised area of the inscription there are clear remains of other decorative ele (...)

2The piece displays an inscription incised on a stone block that originally had a rectangular shape with rounded upper corners. Its measures are 47 cm in width, 84 cm in height, and 23 cm in thickness. As can be appreciated in fig. 2 and 3, the stone is severely deteriorated in its four corners (especially in the lower left corner). However, since the main body of the text has been preserved, its reading has not been excessively hampered. The epigraphic space (33 × 36 cm) is delimited by an edge consisting of an irregular rectangle. The script corresponds to the “type 1” of R. Canova. 2 The A, Δ and Λ have left-facing upper serifs at the top. The E and Ω have a rounded shape with a double loop. There are no guidelines or visible interpuncts. Some of the letters show traces of a reddish pigment. 3

• 4 https://inscriptions.packhum.org.
• 5 CIL VI 463 (Rome).
• 6 JIWE 2, 293 (Rome).
• 7 AE 1920, 24 (Tabarka); CIL VIII 27210 (Thugga); AE 1981, 565 (Ampurias).
• 8 I.Mus. Beyrouth 438; and, probably, CIIP II 1687 (ΚΑΛΑΝΑΙΩ, read as Καλαν⸢δ⸣ίῳ), an inscription in (...)
• 9 IK 29, 58 (Kios; Bithynia); 32, 54 (Apameia; Bithynia); IG X 2 1, 195 (Thessalonike).

5The personal name Καλανδίων is not attested in the onomastics of Zoara. However, it is a name that is widely attested in many other regions of the Empire, since a search in Cornell University’s database 4 (PHI) produced 39 matches of this name. In contrast to its relative scarcity in the East, the name is well represented—although with slight Latin variants—in the West: Kalandio, 5 Καλανδίω 6 and Calendio. 7 Nevertheless, there are also some variants of the name in the East: Καλάνδιος, 8 a name also borne by the patriarch of Antioch between 479 and 485. Besides, the feminine variant of this name (Καλανδία) is also attested. 9

• 10 I.Zoora 20 and 148.
• 11 Meimaris and Kritikakou-Nikolaropoulou 2005, p. 115.
• 12 Meimaris 1986, no. 328.

6Σωσάννα, by contrast, is a name already recorded in Zoara’s epigraphy. 10 It is a name of Semitic origin 11 which sometimes appears with the variant ου instead of ω. In a papyrus from Hermopolis (flor. 1, 78), it is possible to find both forms: Σωσάννα (r. l. 9) and Σουσάννα (v. l. 23). The variant form Σονσάνα is recorded in a mosaic inscription from Jerusalem. 12

• 13 The formula is recorded in Zoara (I.Zoora 71 [ad 394]; I.Zoora 305 [late 4^th/early 5^th c. ad]; I.Zo (...)
• 14 This formula is predominantly Eastern, but there are some testimonies documenting its presence outs (...)

8The formula that heads the inscription, εἷς Θεός. ὁ μόνος, is well attested in the area. 13 However, what is most relevant is that the epigraphic phrase τοῦ βίου παυσομένης μετὰ καλοῦ ὀνόματος is characteristic of Zoara’s epigraphy—I.Zoora reports on the existence of 116 testimonies—, which is a strong evidence for the provenance of this inscription. Finally, the epigraphic pattern, οὐδὶς ἀθάνατος is common in Greek epigraphy of this area and it is attested in pagan, Jewish and Christian inscriptions. 14