Dotawo/content/article/zellmann.md

---
title: ""In the Bosoms of Abraham": A Christian Epitaph from Nubia in the
Brooklyn Museum"
authors: ["zellmannmichael.md"]
abstract: 
keywords:
---

Among the hundreds of artifacts collected by Dr. Henry J. Anderson
(1799--1875) on his travels in the eastern Mediterranean in 1847 is a
small sandstone grave stele, now in the Brooklyn Museum (37.1827E). The
rectangular stone (18.5 cm high × 15 cm wide × 8 cm deep) is inscribed
with nine lines of Greek, once rubricated, on a smoothed face, chipped
at lower right. The text gives the epitaph of a woman, Timothea. The
findspot is not recorded, but the dating of her death by an Egyptian
month (3 Phaōphi \[1 October\]) points towards Egypt, where Anderson is
known to have acquired other antiquities, or a nearby region within
range of its cultural transmission, as the material and form of the
monument and the formulary of the text, discussed in detail below, point
to Egypt's southern neighbor Nubia in the early medieval period.
Comparable stelae are generally assigned to a range between the seventh
and ninth centuries CE, and in the absence of an objective date, the
same range must be considered for the Brooklyn epitaph.[^2]

Anderson, professor of mathematics and astronomy at Columbia College
(appointed 1825), had served as geologist to the United States Dead Sea
Expedition, the occasion for his eastern travels.[^3] Along with nearly
400 other objects, mostly from Egypt---including a mummy, whose public
unwrapping was the occasion for lectures delivered by Anderson at the
New-York Historical Society in December 1864 (fig. 1), reported in major
newspapers at the time---,[^4] the stone was donated by Anderson's sons
E. Ellery and Edward H. Anderson to the Society in 1877.[^5] There the
stele (fig. 2) received the inventory number O.127An, reflected in a
label still attached to its back (fig. 3). It may be among the "Four
Stones with Greek inscriptions" mentioned in an unnumbered inventory of
the Anderson gift printed in 1915.[^6]

Anderson himself never published an account of how he came into
possession of this stele or any other antiquities from Egypt or its
vicinity. Other sources, however, firmly establish a visit in late 1847
and early 1848, apparently on the heels of his work for the Dead Sea
Expedition. One is epigraphic: a graffito in his name with that date has
been recorded in the temple of Amenophis III at Elkab. Another traveler,
William Henry Adams Hyett, also recalled meeting an "American boat"
carrying Anderson at Qasr Ibrim on 7 January, on whose "bump of
destructiveness" he trained a phrenological gaze.

> On Friday evening we reached Ibreem. As an American boat was there on
> return, we stopped and lionized the ruins with its occupants, a Mr.
> Anderson and son, one of Yankee Doodle's most respectable scions, an
> intelligent gentleman of forty-five, or thereabouts, rather of the
> scientific turn; the bump of destructiveness strongly developed, I
> should fancy, from the huge hammer his dragoman carried, and with
> which he mercilessly chopped away at old stones, pillars, cornices,
> &c.[^7]

The "son," apparently E. Ellery Anderson (1833--1903), later a prominent
lawyer and reformist whose political appointments included New York City
School Commissioner, left graffiti of his own on ancient monuments in
the same year, establishing that the party visited further Nubian sites
at Abu Simbel and the temple of Kumma.[^8]

The probable Nubian provenance of the stele may also be compared to that
of the "Skull and piece of a Skull from Nubia" and "Fragments of Temple
of Thothmes III. and Aboo Simbel (*sic*)" in the same inventory.[^9] The
five Greek and Coptic funerary stelae from northern Nubia in the
collection of the British antiquarian William John Bankes (1786--1855),
acquired during his travels in Egypt and Nubia in 1815--1819, provide
both parallels for the monumental form and text of the Brooklyn Museum
stele and a general parallel for how the epitaph of Timothea may have
reached the United States, though in the case of the new stele, the
visit of Anderson was too late for any direct involvement of the
diplomat Henry Salt (1780--1827) in the acquisition, as in the case of
Bankes,[^10] and the account of Hyett supports first-hand collecting
activity, whether by the dragoman's hammer or subtler instruments. In
1937 the stele, along with a larger lot, was loaned to the Brooklyn
Museum and subsequently purchased outright in 1948.

The formula with which this epitaph opens, ἔνθα κατάκειται "Here lies,"
can be found in Greek epitaphs across the ancient world. When the focus
is narrowed to Egypt and its vicinity, the presence of this opening is
generally restricted to northern Nubia, most often Talmis (Kalabsha) or
Taphis (Tafa), sites of extensive cemeteries from which antiquities were
removed in the nineteenth century.[^11] No fewer than 56 epitaphs on
sandstone stelae (Table 1), not yet systematically collected, can be
assigned with certainty or high probability to northern Nubia, with a
comparable sequence of formulae beginning in ἔνθα κατάκειται, followed
by ὁ μακάριος or ἡ μακαρία "the blessed" and the name of the deceased, a
euphemistic verb of death, the date, and a prayer for a divine grant of
repose (with ἀναπαύω) in the "bosoms" (ἐν κόλποις and variants) of
Abraham and, usually, his successor patriarchs Isaac and Jacob.[^12]

Table 1. Greek epitaphs from northern Nubia with the same formulary as
the Brooklyn Museum stele, by provenance. (Names are presented without
normalization.)

**Talmis**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  *Epitaph of*                        *References*
  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
  Abraam                              *I.Chr. Egypte* 623 (*SB* V 8720;
                                      *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 54)
                                      (*DBMNT* 482)

  Akkendarpe                          *I.Chr. Egypte* 622 (*SB* V 8736;
                                      *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 53)
                                      (*DBMNT* 481)

  Manna                               *SEG* LII 1817 (*I.Chr. Egypte*
                                      652; *SB* III 6089; V 8737;
                                      *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 47)
                                      (*DBMNT* 495)

  P..thia                             *SB* I 1600 (*I.Nubia Tibiletti
                                      Bruno* 44) (*DBMNT* 539)

  Samsōn                              *I.Chr. Egypte* 624 (*SB* V 8722;
                                      *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 55)
                                      (*DBMNT* 483)

  Thisauria                           *I.Chr. Egypte* 625 (*SB* V 8721;
                                      *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 48)
                                      (*DBMNT* 484)
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**Talmis?**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  *Epitaph of*                        *References*
  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
  Edra                                *SEG* LXV 2010 (*DBMNT* 3075)

  Epephanios                          *SEG* XLIX 2348 (LXIII 1712)
                                      (*DBMNT* 566)

  Georgios                            *SEG* LXVII 1472 (*DBMNT* 4398)
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**Taphis (Ginari)**[^13]

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  *Epitaph of*                        *References*
  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
  Aarōn                               Firth 486\[a\] (*DBMNT* 429)

  Abraham                             Firth 486\[b\], with Ochała,
                                      "Nubica onomastica," pp. 152--4
                                      (*DBMNT* 450)

  Agathe                              Firth 841 (*DBMNT* 440)

  Akousta                             Firth 437 (*DBMNT* 427)[^14]

  Amantōse                            *SEG* LIV 1774 (*I.Nubia Tibiletti
                                      Bruno* 59; [Firth]{.smallcaps}
                                      s.n., p. 50) (*DBMNT* 449)

  Anna                                [Firth]{.smallcaps} 269 (*DBMNT*
                                      416)

  Archippas                           [Firth]{.smallcaps} 483 (*DBMNT*
                                      428)

  Arōn                                [Firth]{.smallcaps} 374 (*DBMNT*
                                      424)

  Aroumi[^15]                         *SEG* XLIII 1178 (Firth 807;
                                      *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 49)
                                      (*DBMNT* 436)

  Axios                               *SEG* XLIII 1179 (Firth 230;
                                      *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 56)
                                      (*DBMNT* 542)

  Chrisantē[^16]                      Firth 372 (*DBMNT* 423)

  Christina                           Firth 804 (*DBMNT* 435)

  Christophoros                       Firth 246 (*DBMNT* 412)

  Erna                                Firth 323 (*DBMNT* 421)

  Eustephanou                         Firth 124 (*DBMNT* 409)

  Gennatios                           Firth 281 (*DBMNT* 419)

  Ichilos                             Firth 208, with Ochała, "Nubica
                                      onomastica," pp. 149--50 (*DBMNT*
                                      411)

  Iōanna                              Firth 259/261 (*DBMNT* 415)

  Iōannēs                             Firth 651 (*DBMNT* 432)[^17]

  Iōseph                              Firth 193 (*DBMNT* 410)

  Longinos                            Firth 486\[c\] (*DBMNT* 624)

  Maria                               Firth s.n. (p. 50) (*DBMNT* 446)

  Mariam                              Firth 802 (*DBMNT* 434)

  Marou                               Firth 397 (*DBMNT* 425)

  Martha                              Firth 95 (Łajtar, "Epitaphs," pp.
                                      58--9 no. 2) (*DBMNT* 406)

  Merchani                            Firth 838 (*DBMNT* 437)

  Merchō                              Firth 325 (*DBMNT* 422)

  Mōuseou                             Firth 122 (Łajtar, "Epitaphs," pp.
                                      59--60 no. 3) (*DBMNT* 407)

  Mp(e)r(e)rhote[^18]                 Firth s.n. (p. 50), with Ochała,
                                      "Nubica onomastica," pp. 152--4
                                      (*DBMNT* 445)

  Pelagia                             Firth 434 (*DBMNT* 426)

  Petrōinia                           Firth s.n. (p. 50) (*DBMNT* 444)

  Seuēros                             Firth 907, with Ochała, "Nubica
                                      onomastica," pp. 151--2 (*DBMNT*
                                      442)

  Siōn                                Firth 249, with Ochała, "Nubica
                                      onomastica," pp. 150--1 (*DBMNT*
                                      413)

  Sophia                              Firth 270 (*DBMNT* 418)

  Staurophania                        Firth s.n. (p. 50) (*DBMNT* 447)

  Taria                               Firth s.n. (p. 50) (*DBMNT* 448)

  Theognōsta                          Firth 840 (*DBMNT* 439)

  \[..\]nasilei[^19]                  Firth 412 (*DBMNT* 623)
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**Taphis?**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  *Epitaph of*                        *References*
  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
  Protōkia                            *SEG* LXV 2011 (*DBMNT* 3074)

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**Pselchis?**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  *Epitaph of*                        *References*
  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
  Athanasios                          *I.Chr. Egypte* 629 (*I.Nubia
                                      Tibiletti Bruno* 45) (*DBMNT* 487)

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

**Northern Nubia (unknown site)**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  *Epitaph of*                        *References*
  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
  Anna                                *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 50
                                      (*DBMNT* 541)

  Aulōse                              *I.Chr. Egypte* 654 (*SB* V 8738;
                                      *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 52;
                                      *I.Egypte Nubie Louvre* 113)
                                      (*DBMNT* 401)

  Elisabet                            *I.Chr. Egypte* 660 (*I.Nubia
                                      Tibiletti Bruno* 58) (*DBMNT* 498)

  Maria                               *I.Chr. Egypte* 655 (*SB* V 8739;
                                      *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 51;
                                      *I.Egypte Nubie Louvre* 111)
                                      (*DBMNT* 402)

  Petros                              *I.Chr. Egypte* 649 (*SB* V 8734;
                                      *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 46)
                                      (*DBMNT* 493)

  Theotōtē                            *I.Chr. Egypte* 805 (*I.Nubia
                                      Tibiletti Bruno* 57) (*DBMNT* 505)

  \[\...\][^20]                       Liddel, "Greek Inscriptions," pp.
                                      97--8 no. B.2
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

The theological implications of this plural expansion of the "bosom"
(see further the commentary to line 8 of the edition below) remains to
be explained. After the seminal passage of Luke 16, the deceased was
imagined---to judge from the famous illuminated manuscript of Gregory of
Nazianzus produced for the Byzantine emperor Basil I (fig. 4)---as
sitting in Abraham's lap.

The publication of the Brooklyn Museum epitaph, besides encouraging the
continued commemoration of Timothea---an activity that the inclusion of
a month date in the text was meant to promote---,[^21] offers a small
step towards the reconstitution of a dispersed funerary assemblage of
early Christian Nubia. The general cohesion of material and (Greek)
textual forms across major northern Nubian sites, substantially unique
to this area in turn, casts a sidelight on inextricable nexus of the
Greek language and Nubian Christianity, and the negotiation of a
distinctive local variety of both, in the early medieval period. The
monuments, and the names that they continue to make live, are precious
testaments to society in cities like Talmis and Taphis, later ruled from
elsewhere (Primis, Pakhoras) but retaining a position as urban
centers.[^22]

Epitaph of Timothea

18.5 cm (h) × 15 cm (w) × 8 cm (d)

Brooklyn Museum, accession 37.1827E

Seventh--ninth centuries CE

Northern Nubia

*Text*

> \+ ἔνθα κατάκε̣ι-
>
> ται ἡ μακαρία
>
> Τιμοθέα· ἐτε-
>
> λεύτησεν

5 μη(νὶ) Φαῶφι : γ

> ἰνδ(ικτιῶνος) ιε : ἀνα-
>
> παύσῃ αὐτὴ(ν)
>
> ὁ θ(εὸ)ς εἰς κόλποις
>
> Ἀβραὰμ ϥ̣\[θ\]

3 τιμ̅ο̅θ̅ε̅α stone \|\| 5 μη stone \|\| 6 ϊνδ ϊε stone \| ανα stone \|\| 7
αυτη̅ stone \|\| 8 θϲ̅ stone, which is pitted above the preceding
*omikron* (probably a chance mark, not a diacritic) \| κολποιϲ stone;
read ἐν κόλποις or εἰς κόλπους

*Translation*

Here lies the blessed Timothea. She met her end on the 3rd of the month
of Phaophi of the 15th indiction. May God give her rest in the bosoms of
Abraham, 99 (=amen).

*Commentary*

3 Τιμοθέα (τιμ̅ο̅θ̅ε̅α on the stone). Overlining of personal names is
occasionally found in epitaphs: Nikea (Νικεα, an apparent nominative in
what should be the genitive of a female name) in *I.Chr. Egypte* 627
from northern Nubia (Talmis), and Deidō (in the genitive Δειδους) in
*I.Chr. Egypte* 525 from southern Egypt (Hermonthis?). Neither of these
instances could have been conflated with a *nomen sacrum*, which might
otherwise have influenced the scribal practice here (cf. θϲ̅ for θ(εό)ς
in 8 below), that is, overlining θ̅ε̅ as if θ(ε)έ, then extending the
overline to the left.

This is the first instance of the name Timothea in published texts from
Christian Nubia (so the *DBMNT*). Only three individuals listed under
this name in the *Trismegistos Names* database (*TM Nam* 25628) are
acceptable parallels: *SB* I 5854 (Alexandria, undated \[early
Ptolemaic, to judge from letterforms in ed.pr., fig. 3\]); *C.Étiq.Mom.*
749 (*T.Mom.Louvre* 322), third or fourth century CE; and *P.Flor.* I
150 + *P.Louvre* III 193 i 2, 3, 6, 7, etc. (Κλαυδία Ἑρμητάριον ἡ καὶ
Τιμοθέα), 269 CE. (The form in Cruz-Uribe, *Graffiti,* p. 46 no. 67
\[Hibis; undated, but probably Hellenistic to judge from the drawing\],
read Τιμοθηι and rendered "to Timothea," is probably rather the male
name Τιμοθῆς̣.) Foraboschi, *Onomasticon*, p. 318, adds one instance from
seventh-century Egypt (*P.Got.* 14.10).

3--4 ἐτελεύτησεν. So far nearly all other parallels for this formulary
from northern Nubia use either ἐτελε(ι)ώθη or ἐκοιμήθη (cf. Tibiletti
Bruno, "Epigrafi funerarie cristiane della Nubia," p. 513), a coherence
that led Junker ("Die christlichen Grabsteine Nubiens," p. 139) to the
conclusion that ἐτελεύτησεν is entirely lacking in Nubia except at Bigeh
(for him, not a true exception) and characteristic instead of southern
Egypt (see also Tudor, *Christian Funerary Stelae*, Appendix, Table A,
III.3.1.5). The situation is complicated by a closer examination,
including texts published in the interim. In addition to the epitaph
from Bigeh (C. M. Firth ap. Reisner, *Archaeological Survey of Nubia*,
p. 104 no. 8, line 6, with an improved text by Monneret de Villard, *La
Nubia medioevale*, p. 14, correcting the erroneous attribution to Ginari
of the photograph printed in *Archaeological Survey of Nubia,* plate 51,
no. 3), ἐτελεύτησεν does appear in some Nubian epitaphs (Adam Łajtar is
thanked for the following references): those of no lesser personages
than King David (of Alodia/Alwa or a united Nubian kingdom including
also Makuria and Nobadia) from Soba (*I.Khartoum Greek* 79, line 19),
and Joseph, bishop of Aswan, who died and was buried in Dongola (*SEG*
LXI 1543, line 29); as well as that of a woman Tikete (?) from Kalabsha,
which was later brought to Cairo (Monneret de Villard, *Nubia
medioevale*, p. 41, lines 3--4: read Τικετη ἐτελεύτησεν in place of τικε
τη ετελευτηϲ εν); and likely a sandstone funerary cross from Ghazali
(*I.Khartoum Greek* 45: \[ἐ\]τελεύ̣\[τησεν\] probably to be restored in
line 5 with the editor \[accepted also in *I.Ghazali* 210\]\]).
Corruptions, in ancient or modern copying, could also be suspected in
two cases from Taphis (Ginari): of επη (sic: ἐ⟨τελευτ⟩ή⟨σεν⟩?) in the
corresponding place in [Firth]{.smallcaps} 124, and of the confused
sequence ΤΕ\[.\]ΝΑΝ\[.\]ΙΔΕΘ in *SEG* LIV 1774, which might conceal an
error (probably of copying by the editor rather than execution by the
ancient stonecutter) for ⟨ἐ⟩τε⟨λεύτησεν⟩. The spelling ἐτελευώθη in
*I.Chr. Egypte* 622 (*SB* V 8736; *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 53) (Talmis)
may represent conflation of the more common ἐτελειώθη with a variant
ἐτελεύτησεν.

5--6. For the use of Egyptian months and indictions in Nubia, see
Ochała, *Chronological Systems*, pp. 221--4 and 99--124, respectively;
writings and attestations of the month Phaōphi are listed at pp. 226 and
256--9, respectively. The presence of an indiction-year in the formulary
is an indication of possible provenance from the Ginari cemetery at
Taphis (cf. the following n.), but the substitution of τελευτάω (see
3--4n. above) complicates this assignment.

6--7 ἀναπαύσῃ. The use of the subjunctive rather than imperative
(ἀνάπαυσον) could be another sign (cf. the previous n.) of provenance
from Taphis (van der Vliet and Worp, "Four North-Nubian Funerary
Stelae," p. 32); for prayer-formulae requesting rest for the deceased,
see in general Tudor, *Christian Funerary Stelae*, pp. 152--6.

8 εἰς κόλποις. References to the figure of the bosom of Abraham (Luke
16:22--3) are collected by Staerk, "Abrahams Schoß"; for interpretative
questions, see recently Yoder, "In the Bosom of Abraham," esp. 17--19,
and for the form εἰς κόλποις in place of εἰς κόλπους (or ἐν κόλποις),
Tibiletti Bruno, "Epigrafi funerarie cristiane della Nubia," p. 513 (six
instances)

So far only *I.Chr. Egypte* 622 (*SB* V 8736; *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno*
53) with εἰς κόλιπον Ἀβραάμ could be considered a secure parallel for
the omission of Isaac and Jacob, but with a singular "bosom" rather than
the plural as here; cf. *I.Chr. Egypte* 627 (*SB* V 8724; *I.Nubia
Tibiletti Bruno* 60), which ends εἰς κόλπον Ἀβραά̣μ \[ \] and seems
unlikely to have continued with more than ἀμήν or a final cross; Firth
270, in which the stone ends (it is unclear whether due to damage or
not) with ἐν κόλποις Ἀβραάμ but the editor restores \[κ(αὶ) Ἰσαὰκ κ(αὶ)
Ἰακώβ\] in a following line; and *I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 59, lines
9--10, ἀναπαύσῃ σε ἐν Ἀβραμιαίοις "may (God) give you rest in the
(bosoms?) of Abraham." Perhaps a form of the same derived adjective
Ἀβρααμιαῖος "of Abraham" is to be read where [Firth]{.smallcaps} copied
αναπαυση ο θ(εος) εν αβρααμ ια . . . . . . in an unnumbered epitaph from
"debris" at Ginari (p. 50); compare the nexus Ἀβραμίοις κόλποις in the
grave epigram *MAMA* VII 587, line6, and Ἀβραμί\[οι\]ς ἐ⟨ν⟩ κόλποις in
the epitaph *I.Mus. Catania* 187, lines 2--3. The substitution of
another body part, for a presumably metonymic effect, is also found:
ἀπεβίωσεν ὁ μακάριος ἐν βραχὺς (for βραχίοσιν) Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ
Ἰακώβ "the blessed (deceased) departed life in the arms of Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob (*SB* III 6133, Hermonthis?).

Lefebvre (*I.Chr. Egypte*, p. xxx), considered the expression of hope
for the rest of the deceased in the bosoms of the three patriarchs to
have been "créée par les chrétiens d'Égypte," which should also be
understood to include those of northern Nubia. (It is far from limited
to inscriptions of the formula-type to which the Brooklyn Museum epitaph
belongs: in addition to the texts gathered by Lefebvre, note, e.g., an
unpublished epitaph on a "small Coptic stele" in a private house in the
modern village of Tafa \[ancient Taphis\] mentioned by Weigall,
*Antiquities of Lower Nubia*, p. 64, with a drawing in pl. 27, which
shows that the text, in fact in Greek, belongs to a distinct
formula-type beginning ὑπὲρ {ε}μνήμ̣(ης) (καὶ) ἀνα̣πα̣\[ύ\]σεως and
eventually calling on God to give the deceased, a woman \[Ε̣ντρει?\],
rest ἐν κ\[όλ\]π\[οι\]ς Ἀβραὰμ (καὶ) Ἰσα\[ὰκ (καὶ)\] Ἰακώ̣\[β\].) The
appearance of the same motif in Christian prayers for those near death,
asking for their repose in Paradise, with a wider late ancient
circulation including Syriac (Mateos, "Prières syriennes," pp. 276--7
no. 5), complicates this thesis of creation. It was also incorporated in
the Christian funerary liturgy in the so-called ὁ θεὸς τῶν πνευμάτων
prayer ("God of spirits"), not exclusively in Nubia (*contra* Brakmann,
"Defunctus adhuc loquitur," pp. 302, 305--10) but reflected particularly
in epitaphs there; see in general Ruggieri, "Preghiera funebre."
Reference to Abraham alone in this respect is reflected already in
Augustine, *Confessions* 9.3.6, of a deceased friend: "Now he lives in
the bosom of Abraham. Whatever it is that is meant by that bosom, that
is where my Nebridius lives" (*nunc ille vivit in sinu Abraham. quidquid
illud est quod illo significatur sinu, ibi Nebridius meus vivit*).

An interchangeability of singular κόλπος and plural κόλποι is
established early, with the Gospel background of this motif: in Luke
16:23 Lazarus is seen in the plural "bosoms" (ἐν τοῖς κόλποις) of
Abraham, though at the first appearance of Lazarus in the previous verse
he is carried "to the bosom" (εἰς τὸν κόλπον) of the patriarch. The
plural, in reference to Abraham alone, continued in patristic literature
(e.g. Gregory of Nyssa, *Funerary Oration on the Bishop Meletios*
\[Spira, *Gregory Nysseni opera*, p. 452\], ὁ μὲν ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ
Ἀβραὰμ ἀναπαύεται \["He rests in the bosoms of Abraham"\]; Epiphanius,
*Panarion* 2:468, τὸν μὲν ἐν κόλποις Ἀβραὰμ δεικνὺς ἀναπαύεσθαι
\["Showing that he rests in the bosoms of Abraham"\]; John Chrysostom,
*On the Blessed Abraham* 3 \[PG 50:746\], τὸν Ἀβραὰμ μιμήσασθαι ἵνα
ξενισθῶμεν ἐν τοῖς τούτου κόλποις \["To emulate Abraham, so that we may
be received in his bosoms"\]). Although, as noted, the plural κόλποι
"bosoms" of Abraham alone is so far unique to the Brooklyn Museum stele
in funerary epigraphy, the converse, a singular, collective κόλπος
"bosom" of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, may be observed in three epitaphs
from Taphis (Ginari) (Firth 208, 323, 412).

9 ϥ\[θ\]. The cypher stands by isopsephism, with a form of *qoppa*
resembling Coptic *fai*, for ἀμήν, which it occasionally replaces as the
end of the formula (e.g. Firth 95, 208, 230, where either *qoppa* or the
same *fai* has been misread as Greek *gamma*; Liddel, "New Greek
Inscriptions," pp. 97--8 no. B.2 \[with 7n.\]). Junker, "Die
christlichen Grabsteine Nubiens," p. 128, considered this replacement
exclusive to Ginari, but it is now found in three epitaphs from Ghazali
(*I.Ghazali* 78, 120, 153). In *SEG* LXV 2010, from an unknown site
probably in northern Nubia, it appears alongside ἀμήν in the
corresponding place.

Figure 1. New-York Historical Society Lecture on Egypt, 1864: Concluding
Lecture by Prof. Henry J. Anderson. Poster. New-York Historical Society
Pictorial Archives, RG-5, Series IV, 2NW, Range 12A, Bay B, Drawer 10,
F:1. Photography ©New-York Historical Society
(\<http://nyhistory.org\>).

Figure 2. Epitaph of Timothea. Brooklyn Museum accession 37.1827E;
ex-New-York Historical Society O.127An. Photography: the author.

Figure 3. Epitaph of Timothea, back side. Photography: the author.

Figure 4. Illuminated copy of Gregory of Nazianzus, scene of Dives and
Lazarus. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, grec 510, fol. 149r.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr

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[^1]: ^\*^ I thank Katya Barbash and Kathy Zurek-Doule for their help
    and hospitality during my visit to consult the stone (19 December
    2022), Eleanor Gillers for assistance with archival material in the
    New-York Historical Society, Adam Łajtar for epigraphic advice, and
    an anonymous reader of *Dotawo* for criticisms of this article. All
    remaining errors are my own.

[^2]: A rare instance of an internally dated inscription of this type
    (with an expanded formulary) belongs to 699 CE: *I.Chr. Egypte* 661
    (*I.Nubia Tibiletti Bruno* 43). (Abbreviations for epigraphic
    sources follow *GrEpiAbbr.* where relevant.) The letterforms of the
    Brooklyn epitaph are broadly comparable, as is the lettering of the
    parallel text (see further below) edited by Van der Vliet and Worp,
    "Four North-Nubian Funerary Stelae," pp. 32--3 no. 2 (*SEG* LXV
    2010), tentatively assigned to the same century.

[^3]: He contributed a report, "Geological Reconnaisance of Part of the
    Holy Land," on explorations from Beirut south to the Dead Sea,
    including its eastern shores (in [Lynch]{.smallcaps} \[ed.\],
    *Official Report*, pp. 75--206); see also his obituary in the *New
    York Times*, 18 January 1876, p. 8.

[^4]: *New York Times*, 15 December 1864; *New York Commercial
    Advertiser* and *New York Evening Post*, 16 December 1864.

[^5]: Information from copies of correspondence related to the donation
    kept in the Brooklyn Museum archives; Kathy Zurek-Doule is thanked
    for this reference.

[^6]: *Catalogue of the Egyptian Antiquities*, p. 74.

[^7]: Graffito: De Keersmaecker, *Elkab*, p. 20 (with further
    bibliographical information on Anderson at pp. 21--2); Hyett,
    *Journal*, p. 33.

[^8]: See De Keersmaecker, *Temples of Abu Simbel*, p. 75, and *Temples
    of Semna and Kumma*, p. 61 (with further biographical information at
    pp. 62--6), respectively; the obituary in the *New York Times*, 25
    February 1903, p. 2, also mentions travels in Egypt and Nubia in
    1847 and 1848.

[^9]: *Catalogue of the Egyptian Antiquities*, p. 75.

[^10]: For the texts, and the proposed connection to Salt, see van der
    Vliet and Worp, "Four North-Nubian Funerary Stelae," pp. 27--9, and
    "Fifth Nubian Funerary Stela."

[^11]: Junker, "Die christlichen Grabsteine Nubiens," pp. 114, 125--7
    (see also pp. 122--3 on physical form); van der Vliet, "Gleanings,"
    pp. 180--3.

[^12]: See in general Tibiletti Bruno, "Epigrafi funerarie cristiane
    della Nubia," pp. 513--15.

[^13]: Not included here is the fragmentary *SEG* LXV 2009 (*DBMNT*
    1482), an epitaph of a man whose name, or whose patronym, was read
    as Iatouros, but the text is very uncertain, and the opening ἔνθα
    κατάκειται is entirely restored.

[^14]: The request for repose is omitted.

[^15]: The word *ara* following her name is probably an Egyptian title
    from "the domain of local law or finance": van der Vliet,
    "Gleanings," pp. 176--8 \[*SEG* LII 1816\].

[^16]: [Firth]{.smallcaps} read χρισαν̅τη; the overline in a Nubian
    context would be expected to represent /i/, but a misreading (or
    misprinting) of χρισανθη (Chrisanthē; cf. Χρυσάνθη) is also
    possible. An anonymous reader of *Dotawo* is thanked for these
    observations.

[^17]: The request for repose is omitted.

[^18]: Ochała, to whom this reading is owed, doubts that the sequence is
    a name, but, although not precisely paralleled, it fits well as a
    "hortatory" name (for the category, see, e.g., Fischer, *Albion's
    Seed*, pp. 94--7) in Coptic, "Fear-not," drawn from the words of the
    angel to Mary in Luke 1:30 (in the Sahidic version, ⲙⲡⲣⲣϩⲟⲧⲉ ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ).

[^19]: The formulary (ἡ μακαρία) indicates that the deceased was a
    woman.

[^20]: The name is lost, but the formulary (α̣ὐ̣τοῖς for αὐτῆς) indicates
    that the deceased was a woman. The stone, now in the Bristol Museum
    and Art Gallery, was accessioned in a group that included artifacts
    from Elephantine and Dakkeh(?). The first editor writes of a
    "(modern) inscription, lightly incised, 'ΚΑΛΒ'": could Kal(a)b(sha)
    (Talmis) have been meant?

[^21]: For this function of the month date, see van der Vliet, "'What is
    Man,'" pp. 195--7. The stelae of the Ginari cemetery were originally
    affixed to the outer, western end of the tombs, in some cases
    accompanied by niches for the placement of commemorative lamps:
    [Firth]{.smallcaps} p. 40; Łajtar, "Epitaphs," p. 58.

[^22]: Cf. van der Vliet, "Gleanings," p. 175.