An Adaptation of a Sentence of Menander in a Nubian Monastery

Author(s): Adam Łajtar

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 171 (2009), pp. 19-24
Published by: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn (Germany)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20756741 .
Accessed: 17/01/2013 09:03

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn (Germany) is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access
to Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded on Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:03:00 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 19

An Adaptation of a Sentence of Menander in a Nubian Monastery*

ToHeinz JosefThissen
as a memento of our Cologne encounters

This paper deals with an inscription on a wall of a monastery located ca. 1.5 km northeast of the ruins of
since
Dongola, the capital of theNubian Christian Kingdom ofMakuria, which has been under exploration
1991 by a team from the Polish Centre ofMediterranean Archaeology of the University ofWarsaw. The
numerous alterations,
monastery was established probably in the 7th century and remained in use, with
until at least themiddle of the 14th century.1While much remains to be done, the team has already explored
themonastery church, a cell for a single monk of distinguished status turned later into a commemorative
rooms.
chapel (the so-called south building), a service area, and some common
The monastery had two annexes attached to it,one on the northwest and the other on the southwest.
was of
They are referred to archaeologically by their geographical descriptors. The Southwestern Annex
relatively small dimensions and unknown purpose. The Northwestern Annex, considerably bigger in size,
consisted of two complexes. The northern complex, which stood over three burial crypts containing as

many as 21 bodies,
including that of Georgios, Archbishop of Dongola (t 1113),2 was intended undoubt
edly for the commemoration of the persons laid to rest in the crypts. The southern complex, boasting three
Eucharistie chapels decorated with representations of an Archangel, most probably Michael, on theirwalls,
could have been connected with the cult of the Archangel or, alternatively, with the commemoration of
donors, as Michael is represented protecting a Nubian church dignitary.3 It is in this southern complex that
the inscription under consideration is found.
The text stands on the east wall of Room 35,4 which was erected in themiddle of the 12th century as a
monumental, tower-like entrance leading into the southern complex.5 It had doors in thewestern and east
ern walls. Later, perhaps towards the end of the same century, these external doors were blocked and the
room became an annex to the row of Rooms 24,22 and 23 serving as a vestibule to theEucharistie chapels

*
IwonaZych (Warsaw) and Giovanni Ruffini (New York) kindly improvedtheEnglish ofmy paper.To both of them,I
would like to express my sincere thanks.
1For a
summaryof archaeological results,see S. Jakobielski,The Holy TrinityMonastery inOld Dongola, [in:]
W. God
lewski,A. Lajtar (eds.),Between theCataracts. Proceedings of the11thConferenceforNubian Studies,Warsaw University,27
-
August 2 September2006, Part I:Main Papers [=Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean SupplementSeries 2.1],Warsaw
2008, pp. 283-302. Note shouldbe taken thatthedesignation"The Holy TrinityMonastery" used by theexcavatorsof the site
is not certain.
2 For
Georgios, see A. Lajtar, Georgios, Archbishop ofDongola (f 1113) and his epitaph, [in:]T. Derda, J.Urbanik,M.
Wecowski (eds.),EYEPTECIAC XAPIN. Studies Presented toBenedetto Bravo and Ewa Wipszycka by Their Disciples [=
Journal ofJuristicPapyrology Supplement 1], Warsaw 2002, pp. 159-192.
3 In an article after the first five seasons of work in the Annex, Zurawski that itwas a xenon, a
published Bogdan suggested
place inwhich people, specificallytheold and the sick,could have foundcare and healing throughcontactwith relicsof saintly
individualsburied in thecryptsof thenortherncomplex; cf.B. Zurawski, Faith healing, philanthropyand commemorationin
Late Christian Dongola, [in:] S. Emmel, M. Krause, S. G. Richter, S. Schaten (eds.), ?gypten und Nubien in sp?tantiker und
christlicher Zeit. Akten des 6. Internationalen Koptologenkongresses, M?nster, 20.-26. Juli 1996, Band I:Materielle Kultur,
Kunst und religi?sesLeben [= Sprachen undKulturen des christlichenOrients 6,1],Wiesbaden 1999,pp. 423-448. More evi
dence is needed to corroborate this hypothesis.
4 The same easternwall ofRoom 35 carries two further
inscriptionsinGreek, both of themexecuted inblack ink.The
first of these is a visitor's dipinto a certain [-]ngaue, the other contains a small collection of
inscriptions commemorating
=
quotations includingEccl. 4.12 andReg. IV 2.12 Reg. IV 13.14,writtenby a deacon of thename Loukas.
5 For the
building historyof theNorthwesternAnnex, see S. Jakobielski,Das Kloster derHeiligen Dreifaltigkeit.Bau
phasen des nordwestlichen Anbaus, [in:] S. Jakobielski, R O. Scholz (eds.), Dongola-Studien. 35 Jahre polnischer Forschungen
imZentrumdes makuritischenReiches [=Bibliotheca nubica et aethiopicaVII], Warsaw 2001, pp. 141-168,especially p. 158
with n. 37 and figs 14 and 25.

This content downloaded on Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:03:00 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 20 A. Lajtar

29 and 31. The inscription ismost likely to come from this second phase of use, which means that it is of
the late 12th century or younger.
The inscription is found 13 cm to the south of the northeastern corner of the room and 187 cm above
floor level, i.e. slightly above eye-level of a person standing on the floor. The black ink used inwriting ithas
survived exceptionally well except for some minor damage. The textmeasures 42 cm inwidth and 3.1 cm
in height. Letter height varies between 0.7 cm (o at the end) and 2.7 cm (the firstp). The
script rises slightly
to the right.The hand is neat and fine, obviously that of a trained scribe. the letters repre
Palaeographically,
sent inclined majuscules of a Nubian type, characteristic of Nubian literacy from the 10th century onwards.
The scribe uses the abbreviation \Noyc for dv(Gpam)oD(; as if itwere a nomen sacrum. In line with the
Nubian scribal tradition, he marks vowels in the initial position with a supralinear dot, but he does it only

occasionally. Of the five words beginning with a vowel (or\p, eiAtuc, e?cei, eni, ^Hoyc), only the first
one ismarked thus.A dot is found also above the final \ in rp\MM^. It probably belongs to the
neighboring
e and was put above \ only by the scribe's inadvertence unless we consider it to be his abortive
in eiAc?C

attempt at marking a word accent. The inscription is correct from the orthographic point of view, a rare
phenomenon in texts generated in the Christian Nubian culture.
The inscription may be transcribed as follows:

f 6r^prp\MMieiAiucnepiccoNNOYNe7cei enin\NT\c\Noyc
eibcbqnepiaaov vow e%eitnl navxaq dv(0pco7r)oi)(;.
f 6 ydp ypoc|LLjLLoc

For the one who knows the scripture has an extraordinary intellect, more than all other people.

What we have here is an adaptation of one of the so-called "Menander sentences". The medieval manu

script tradition gave this title to a collection (or rather collections) of maxims, altogether over 850 items,
expressing simple truths in thematter of ethics, self-conduct, male-female relations, education, etc.6Mod
ern scholarship has demonstrated that, contrary to the view expressed in their traditional title, these max
ims were of various origins: some may truly have stemmed from the works of theNew Comedy, others
can be traced as far back as the great Attic tragedy of the 5th century BC, yet others came into existence
not earlier than Byzantine times. In accordance with their heterogeneous origin, themaxims show rather

heterogeneous form. The majority are monostichs composed in iambic trimeters, the standard meter of the
New Comedy, but we also have prosaic gnomes and Byzantine dodekasyllables.
The sentence thatwas adapted for the inscription from Dongola has come down in themanuscript tra
dition in the following form: 6 ypdjujiax' ?i8d><; Kai rcepiGaov vow e%?i, "The one who knows writing has
also an extraordinary intellect".7 This original sentence was composed in iambic trimeter.The anonymous
author of the adaptation altered the original form of the sentence in four places, interfering significantly
with the original metrical structure. He put ydp at the very beginning, substituted ypdjujuoc for ypdjujuax',
eliminated Kai and, finally, added kn\ n?vxaq dvGpccmoix; at the end. The nature and significance of these
alterations differs. The introduction of ydp in the initial position suggests that the adapted sentence was

coupled with another one, now lost, that posed a question or introduced a reason. The elimination of Kai
ismore or less cosmetic and may be connected with abandoning themeter.8 The addition of knl navxaq

dvGpomoax; creates problems; it does not go well with the composition of the rest of the sentence and
obscures itsmeaning. Apparently the author of the adaptation wanted to make a comparison, "The one
6 For Menander sentences see G.
in general, Lanowski, De monostichis Menandri q.d. Quaestiones selectae, Eos 44

(1950),pp. 35-74;W. G?rler,MENANAPOY TNQMAI, Dissertation Berlin 1963;V. Liapis,Menandrou Gnomai monostichoi.
Eisagoge, metaphrase, scholia, Athens 2002 (in Greek; non vidi)', see also the introduction to an excellent work by M. Ull
mann, Die arabische ?berlieferung der sogenannten Menander Sentenzen [= Abhandlungen f?r die Kunde des Morgenlandes

XXXIV.l], Wiesbaden 1961.

7 Cf. S. Jaekel et Philistionis,
(ed.), Menandri sententiae.
Comparatio Menadri Teubner 1964, Tvcoum uovocrci%oi 568.1
do not have access to themost recent editions
of theMenander sentences: G. Pompella (ed.), Menandro sentenze. Introduzione,
traduzione e note, Milano 1997; R. M. Marino S?nchez-Elvira, F. Garcia Romero (eds.), Proverbios griegos. Menandro sen

tencias, Madrid 1999; C. Pernigotti (ed.), Menandri sententiae, Firenze 2008.

8
Perhaps the author of the adaptation felt that the exepenthetic Kai was superfluous.

This content downloaded on Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:03:00 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 An Adaptation of a Sentence ofMenander in a Nubian Monastery 21

who knows the scripture has intellectmore extraordinary than all other people", but this requires more sub
stantial changes in the structure of the sentence than just an automatic addition of tnl navxaq dv0pco7tODc;,
"over all people", and if one would like to add something this should be vnep jrdvxcov dvBpamcov. The

change of ypdjijuaToc to ypdjijia is themost interesting and most weighty alteration. It changes themean
ing of the sentence, as the plural ypajLijiaxa, "letters, writing", does not equal the singular ypdji^oc, "letter,
thatwhich iswritten, inscription, scripture". Perhaps the author of the adaptation had tepov ypd|i|ua, "Holy

Scripture", inmind. If so the original sentence expressing a general truthabout the profits of education was
reworked in a Christian spirit to underscore the profits of knowing the holy books. Holy books as a source
ofknowledgeare praised ina somewhatsimilarformby SaintPaul in2Tm3,15:ml ?ti ?nb ?peqxroc;xd
iepd ypd|Li|naTa oi5aq, xd Swdjievd oe aocpioai etc; acoxripiav 8id moxeax; xfjq ev Xpioxco TriGou.
It would be interesting to know the circumstances in which the adapted sentence passed on by the

inscription from Dongola came into existence and who the author of this adaptation was. Considering that
anything of literary character found in Christian Nubia must have been imported there at the time of the
evangelization of the land in the 6th century or shortly thereafter, it can be said with fair certainty that the
sentence arrived at Dongola in the form itwas inscribed on the wall of one of itsmetropolitan monaster
ies, in other words, that the adaptation occurred outside Nubia, in Egypt or elsewhere within the sphere of
influence of Greek culture. It ismore than probable that itwas done in connection with school education.
As is well known, Menander sentences (and other gnomai too) were commonly used in Greek primary

teaching, to instruct pupils both in writing and in ethics.9 Most of the Egyptian testimonies of maxims
preserved on papyri, ostraca and writing tablets are connected with the sphere of education.10 They cover
theentireperiodofEgyptian literacyinGreek, fromthe3rdcentury
BC untilthe7th/8th AD, thus
century
predating considerably the oldest known Byzantine manuscripts with collections of these sentences. The
sentences either occur alone or in collections of up to several dozen of items, frequently arranged alpha

betically, or in combination with excerpts from other literary works. Belonging in the second group is a
6th-7th century limestone ostracon found in themonastery of Epiphanius inWestern Thebes, containing
the texts of 27 monostichoi ofMenander, among them the one that served as the basis for the adaptation

preserved in the inscription from Dongola.11 In addition to theGreek texts, there are Coptic translations of
Menander monostichoi indicating that theywere used in education also by the Copts.12 The sentences of
Menander occurring in Egyptian sources frequently show variant readings and adaptations as compared
with their "standard" forms attested in the Byzantine manuscript tradition. This is hardly astonishing, since
"it is in themaxims that teachers could take some initiative and manifest some originality: they could make
9 For the use of maxims in Greek education, see. R. Cribiore, Writing, Teachers, and Students inGraeco-Roman [=
Egypt
American Studies inPapyrology 36],Atlanta 1996,p. 45.
10 Cf. nos.
e.g. Cribiore, op.cit., 134,135,136 (Menander Monost. 487 Jaekel), 139,142,148,150 (Menander Monost. 269
Jaekel), 159, 160, 185, 186, 189, 194-197 (MenanderMonost. IV 1 Jaekel),200, 208, 209, 211, 215, 216 (MenanderMonost.
9 Jaekel),217, 218, 220 (MenanderMonost. 455 Jaekel),228 (MenanderMonost. XII Jaekel),229 (MenanderMonost. II and
VIII Jaekel),236,238,255 (MenanderMonost. 337, 362,468 Jaekel),257 (MenanderMonost. V Jaekel),262,272 (Menander
Monost. VIII Jaekel), 277, 285, 286, 293, 300, 304, 311 (Menander Monost. X Jaekel), 312 (Menander Monost. IX Jaekel), 316
(MenanderMonost. XVI Jaekel),319 (MenanderMonost. XIII Jaekel),383, 389, 391, 392, 393 (MenanderMonost. II Jaekel),
395, 396 (MenanderMonost. Jaekel,p. 133 line 7).
Published by H. G. Evelyn-White, The Metropolitan Museum of Arts Egypt Expedition. The Monastery ofEpiphanius
at Thebes II, New York 1926, p. 135 and 321, no. 615. The ostracon has been discussed repeatedly, e.g.: A. Koerte, AfP 11
(1935), p. 264, no. 812;M. F. Galiano, Arbor 6 (1946), p. 141,no. 16;G. Lanowski, Eos 44 (1950), p. 50 ff.;R. A. Pack, The
Greek and Latin Literary Texts from Graeco-Roman Egypt, 2nd ed., Ann Arbor 1965, no. 1582; Cribiore, op.cit., no. 319. The
text of the ostracon is reprinted as no. XIII in Jaekel's edition of Menander sentences. In his edition the crucial lines (22-23)
have thefollowingreading: (6) ypd|i|xaT'ri?ax; Kai | Tiepioaovvo\>vex?l
12Here one shouldmention in the firstline a
papyrus codex with a collection of sentencesofMenander inGreek and
theirCoptic translations(thecodex iskeptpartly in theVatican and partly in Innsbruck).The listof testimoniesincludesalso a
papyrus leaf kept in the British Museum and containing a collection ofMenander sentences in Greek and Coptic, and an ostra
con in Vienna with a sentence in For the of these texts, see D. M. Weber, Die
single Coptic. publication Hagedorn, griechisch
koptische Rezension der Menandersentenzen, ZPE 6 (1968), pp. 15-50. The texts were reprinted inM. Hasitzka, Neue Texte
zumKoptisch-Unterrieht [=Mitteilungen aus der Papyrussammlungder ?sterreichischenNationalbibliothekXVIII], Wien
1990,nos 268-269.

This content downloaded on Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:03:00 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
22 A. Lajtar

them up, adapting conventional themes, or they could modify the traditional maxims when theywanted to

develop a particular theme", as Raffaella Cribiore justly observed.13 The adapted sentence from Dongola
has a chance of being the product of such activity by a teacher who probably aimed at attaching a special
Christian meaning to it.Once modified, the sentence entered books for school use and was brought by
means of these books it continued to be applied in teaching at least until the 12th century.
toNubia where
It is true thatmaxims are not attested as part of school education inChristian Nubia, but there is no reason
to think that theNubian praxis differed in this respect from that observable in other areas of the Greek
world. School exercises that have come down to us from Christian Nubia show that the educational pat
terns observed by the Christian inhabitants of theMiddle Nile valley followed the ages-long practice of
Greek schools. The evidence I am speaking of includes, among others, wall inscriptions from the Faras
cathedral,14 as well as ostraca fromDebeira,15 Meinarti16 and Dongola17 containing either complete alpha
bets or various parts of it.Moreover, one should mention two still unpublished inscriptions on thewalls of
the so-called south building inside themonastery on Kom H at Dongola, each having the letter <|>repeated
six times in connection with consecutive vowels.18 To be mentioned here as well are two ink inscriptions,
one on a wall of the Faras cathedral19 and the other in the church at Sonqi Tino,20 each displaying an alpha
betical list of words (for <|>-and *e-respectively). Another inscription from the church at Sonqi Tino contains
the famous age-old chalinos Kva^?ix0-?7ixr|a(p?i8Y|Lio8pco\|/, composed of all 24 letters of theGreek alpha
bet.21 An ostracon recently found in themonastery church on Kom H at Dongola is inscribed with what
seems to be an exercise in declining the adjective ??po%oq, while another one, discovered in the 1960s in
Gebel Adda, bears an exercise in writing Mixar|X, eAirjaov (eiq) aicova 22A particularly interesting set
of school exercises was found by Polish archaeologists in themonastery church on Kom H at Dongola in

2006, not quite a hundred meters away from theMenander inscription here discussed. It has the form of a
series of inscriptions, either in black or red ink, in one case scratched, situated on the east wall of the south
aisle of the church 23 The texts are partly the work of trained scribe(s), probably teacher(s), and partly the
13
Cribiore, op.cit., p. 45.
14Published
by S. Jakobielski, [in:]K. Michatowski et alii, Faras I. Fouilles polonaises 1961,Warsaw 1962, pp. 80,
176-178,figs48,94 and 95.At issue is an elongatedblock of red sandstonefoundreused in the southwall of thecathedralof
Faras, to therightof thesecondwindow countingfromtheeast. Itbears nine inscriptionsinblack ink,includingthreecomplete
alphabets (onewith lettersarranged inhorizontal lines,one with lettersarranged in columns and one with lettersoccurring in
[\?b, r-a, etc.] in two columns). Another on the same block contains a series of vowels.
pairs inscription
15 P. L.
Shinnie, M. Shinnie, Debeira West. A Medieval Nubian Town, Warminster 1978, p. 98, no. 195.
16Published World,Materials 330],M?nchen 2002,
partlybyG. M. Browne,Old Nubian Grammar [=Languages of the
p. 8. Cf. also W Y. Adams, Meinarti III. The Late and Terminal Christian Phases [= Sudan Archaeological Research Society
Publication 9], London 2002, p. 106 and pi. 34a
17
Unpublished, personally examined by the author.
18 I am
acquainted with the inscriptionsthroughtheircopies preparedby Dr. Stefan Jakobielski,long-timehead of the
Polish Archaeological Mission atDongola, immediatelyaftertheirdiscovery in theearly 1990s.
19Published
by S. Jakobielski,[in:]K. Michatowski, Faras. Wall Paintings in theCollection of theNational Museum in
Warsaw, Warsaw 1974, pp. 307-308, no. 52 (M. Hasitzka, Afewe Texte und Dokumente zum Koptisch-Unter rieht [=Mitteilun

gen aus derPapyrussammlungder?sterreichischenNationalbibliothekXVIII], Wien 1990,pp. 158-159,no. 233). Republished

scolaire sur les murs de la cathedrale de Faras, Etudes et Travaux 15 (1990), pp. 225-229,
by J.Kubinska, Inscription photo.
20 The was
inscription was never published properly. It mentioned by S. Donadoni, Les graffiti de l'eglise de Sonqi Tino,
(ed.), Nubia. Recentes recherches. Actes du colloque international au Musee National de
[in:] K. Michatowski nubiologique
Varsovie, 19-22 Juin 1972, Varsovie 1975, pp. 38-39. Donadoni, loc.cit., noted, that there were also lists of words starting with
he did not give any details.
z and r in thechurchof Sonqi Tino, but unfortunately
21 The was
inscription never publishedproperly. was described brieflybyDonadoni, op.cit.,p. 39.On chalinoi and their
It
use see recently Au ancien chalinos chalinoi et vers
in school education, J.-L. Fournet, sujet du plus scolaire: alphabetique
grecs,Rev. Phil. 74 (2000), pp. 61-82.
22These findswill be
publishedby thepresentwriter.
23The findhas
yet tobe published.The photo of its left-handside is found in S. Jakobielski,The Holy TrinityMonastery
inOld Dongola, [in:]W. Godlewski, A. Lajtar (eds.),Between theCataracts. Proceedings of the 11thConferenceforNubian
Part I:Main [= Polish in theMediterranean
Studies, Warsaw University, 27 August-2 September 2006, Papers Archaeology
Supplement Series 2.1], Warsaw 2008, p. 289, fig. 9.

This content downloaded on Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:03:00 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 An Adaptation of a Sentence ofMenander in a Nubian Monastery 23

work of pupil(s) who had only started to learn writing. They include single letters, syllables, alphabetical
lists of words,24 lists of words by subject, and perhaps also literary pieces. These school texts from Nubia
illustrate particular stages of Greek education from the lowest to themore advanced ones: apprenticeship of
letters, constructing of syllables, learning and memorizing of vocabulary, practicing handwriting, learning
of declension and conjugation forms, learning of complete sentences and formulae 25The adapted sentence
ofMenander could have found application in several of these stages of education with the exception of the
lowest ones.
The above reasoning does not mean that I consider the inscription with the adaptation of the sentence
ofMenander a school exercise. The hand of the inscription is too neat and practiced for that. It is rather the
result or a by-product of school education in theGreek style. It is thework of someone who attended school
inwhich he learned this sentence and memorized it for life.

Adam Lajtar, Universit?t Warschau, Seminar f?r Papyrologie, Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26-28, 00927
Warschau, Polen, a.lajtar@uw.edu.pl

1. Inscription with an adaptation of a sentence ofMenander on the eastern wall of Room 35 of the Northwestern Annex
Fig.
to theMonastery on Kom H at Dongola. Photo Robert Mahler

2. Inscription with an adaptation of a sentence of Menander on the eastern wall of Room 35 of the Northwestern Annex
Fig.
to theMonastery on Kom H at Dongola. Drawing Adam Lajtar

24One of these lists iswrittenfrom

rightto leftand inmirrored letters.
25 We the most advanced
do not have exercises representing stages of the education, i.e. learning and improving style. It
should be observed, however, that such exercises are practically undistinguishable in the epigraphic material unless they occur
in a clear school context.

This content downloaded on Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:03:00 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
24

-
j ~ .55

8atthee??of<hel2th

This content downloaded on Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:03:00 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions