An Epigraphic Record from the Early Byzantine Period at Hephaistia, Lemnos: The Epitaph of Euphrosynos and Aurelia Phila

During recent excavations in the fortified coastal complex of the Monastery of Agios Paulos on Mount Athos, an inscription was discovered carved on a fragment of a marble sarcophagus. It was first reported at the end of the 19th century but it appears to have been lost in the early years of the 20th century. According to the text itself, the inscription originates from the city of Hephaistia, located on a peninsula in the northeastern part of the island of Lemnos, in the northern Aegean. The transportation of the inscription from Lemnos to Mount Athos was probably carried out by monks who owned properties (metochia) on the island, possibly around the mid-15th century. In the inscription, a deceased couple, Euphrosynos and Aurelia Phila, threaten anyone who might dare to intrude upon their tomb and invoke the protection of the authorities in the event of any violation. The exact provenance of the inscription is unknown, but it may derive from the area of Bounda, just southwest of the Hephaistia peninsula, where a suburban cemetery developed during the Early Byzantine period around a funerary basilica. The inscription, which was last studied in 1905 by G. Millet, deserves renewed examination considering the archaeological investigations carried out during the 20th century and still ongoing at Hephaistia by the Italian Archaeological School at Athens. Epigraphic comparisons may allow its dating to be narrowed down to between the second half of the 4th century and the early 5th century. The inscription constitutes an important element in our understanding of Hephaistia during the Early Byzantine period, a phase that is almost entirely absent from literary sources and otherwise known only through archaeological excavations.