The Stele of Serapeitis ( ka, სერაფიტას სტელა) is a funerary

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

with

bilingual inscription In epigraphy, a multilingual inscription is an inscription that includes the same text in two or more languages. A bilingual is an inscription that includes the same text in two languages (or trilingual in the case of three languages, etc.). Mul ...

s written in

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

and Armazic, a local idiom of

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

, found in 1940, at

Armazi Armazi ( ka, არმაზი) is a locale in Georgia, 4 km southwest of Mtskheta and 22 km northwest of Tbilisi. A part of historical Greater Mtskheta, it is a place where the ancient city of the same name and the original capital of the early ...

, near

Mtskheta Mtskheta ( ka, მცხეთა, tr ) is a city in Mtskheta-Mtianeti province of Georgia. It is one of the oldest cities in Georgia as well as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the World. Itis located approximately north of T ...

, in the ancient capital of the

Kingdom of Iberia In Greco-Roman geography, Iberia (Ancient Greek: ''Iberia''; la, Hiberia) was an exonym for the Georgians, Georgian kingdom of Kartli ( ka, ქართლი), known after its Kartli, core province, which during Classical Antiquity and the E ...

. The stele memorialises a short-lived Georgian princess named Serapeitis. The inscriptions mention Georgian monarchs, Pharnavaz I and Pharasmanes II, and other members of

aristocracy Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At t ...

.Rapp, p. 216 The inscriptions are dated 150 AD. It is known as KAI 276.

Inscriptions

Ancient Greek inscription

::CHPAΠEITIC ZHOΥAXOΥ ::TOΥ NEΩTEPOΥ ΠITIAΞOΥ ::ΘΥΓATHP ΠOΥΠΛIKIOΥ AΓPIΠΠA ΠITI ::AΞOΥ ΥIOΥ IΩΔMANΓANOΥ ΓΥNH ::TOΥ ΠOΛΛAC NEIKAC ΠOIHCANTOC ::EΠITPOΠOΥ BACIΛEΩC IBHPΩN ::MEΓAΛOΥ ΞEΦAPNOΥΓOΥ AΠE ::ΘANE NEΩTEPA ETΩN K—A ::HTIC TO KAΛΛOC AMEIMHTON ::EIXE ::Serapeitis, daughter of Zeouach the Younger, pitiaxes, wife of Iodmanganos, son of Publicius Agrippa, pitiaxes, who won many battles as '' epitropos'' of the great king of the Iberians, Xepharnougos. She died, younger than twenty-one years, who had inimitable beauty.

Aramaic inscription

::I am Serapit, daughter of Zewah the Younger, pitiaxes of King Pharasmanes, wife of Yodmangan the victorious and winner of many victories, master of the court of King Xepharnougos and the son of Agrippa, master of the court of King Pharasmanes, victorious over the mighty, which

Pharnavaz Pharnavaz ( ka, ფარნავაზი) is a Georgian masculine given name. Other forms of name Pharnavaz used in Georgian are: Pharnaoz or Pharna. It may refer to: *Pharnavaz I of Iberia, Georgian king *Pharnavaz II of Iberia Parnavaz II ...

could not accomplish. Serapit was so fine and beautiful that no one was her equal in beauty. And she died in her twenty-first year.

Notes

).Rapp, pp. 65-217

References

Bibliography

*Opper, T. (2013) Hadrian: Art, Politics and Economy,

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, {{ISBN, 9780861591756 * Rapp, Stephen H. Jr (2014) The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature,

Ashgate Publishing Ashgate Publishing was an academic book and journal publisher based in Farnham ( Surrey, United Kingdom). It was established in 1967 and specialised in the social sciences, arts, humanities and professional practice. It had an American office i ...

* Lang, D. M. (1966) Landmarks in Georgian Literature, School of Oriental and African Studies,