Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Bir el Qutt inscriptions

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Material
  
Mosaic

Bir el Qutt inscriptions httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Writing
  
Georgian language inscriptions written in a Georgian script

Created
  
AD 430 (inscription 1 & 2) AD 532 (inscription 3)

Discovered
  
1952 by Virgilio Canio Corbo

Present location
  
Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Jerusalem

The Bir el Qutt inscriptions (Georgian: ბირ ელ ყუტის წარწერები) are the Georgian language Byzantine mosaic inscriptions written in the Georgian Asomtavruli script which were excavated at a St. Theodore Georgian monastery in 1952 by an Italian archaeologist Virgilio Canio Corbo near Bir el Qutt, in the Judaean Desert, 6 km south-east of Jerusalem and 2 km north of Bethlehem. Georgian inscriptions were found on a mosaic floor. Two inscriptions are dated AD 430 and the third one AD 532.

Contents

The monastery where the inscriptions were excavated was founded or rebuilt by the Georgian philosopher and royal prince Peter the Iberian. One of the inscriptions mentions him with his father. The other inscription mentions Bacurius the Iberian who is thought to be a possible grandfather of Peter.

So far, the first two carvings are the oldest extant Georgian inscriptions. The inscriptions are kept at the museum of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem. Inscription 2 mentioning Peter the Iberian is currently missing.

Inscription 1

  • Translation: "Jesus Christ, have mercy on Bakur and Griormizd and their descendants."
  • Dated: AD 430

    • Inscription 2

  • Translation: "Saint Theodore, have mercy on Maruan and Burzen, Amen."
  • Dated: AD 430

    • Inscription 3

  • Translation: "With the help of Jesus Christ and Saint Theodore, God have mercy on Abba Antony and Iosia the layer of this mosaic and the father and mother of Iosia, Amen."
  • Dated: AD 532

    • References

    Bir el Qutt inscriptions Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA