A Wandering Jewish Tombstone;

Abstract

The tombstone bearing Jewish symbols such as menorah, shofar, etrog and lulav, accompanied by a Hebrew inscription reading shalom and an ancient Greek inscription comprising two lines, was found in the garden of two buildings belonging to H. M. Aydoğdu, in the locality designated “Omarcı (Ömerci) Village” situated in the district of Şarkikaraağaç, Isparta. With the type of stone of the artefact it is an uncommon find for Şarkikaraağaç, Yalvaç and its surroundings. At the beginning of the research, it was noted that the tombstone was presented by T. Drew-Bear in 1993 at the “XIth Survey Results Meeting”, and it was determined that the original findspot of the tombstone was Afyonkarahisar / İscehisar. In 2004, the inscription was incorporated into a corpus by W. Ameling, which included Jewish inscriptions from Asia Minor. The studies that have been carried out thus far have not evaluated the reliefs and the iconography of the stele. Thus it would be beneficial to undertake a comprehensive revision of the work and present it to the scientific community in a more holistic manner, with a synthesis of both archaeological and epigraphic perspectives. © 2024 Phaselis Research Station. All rights reserved.