Kourion Complex Palace (Mosaics) Fales, c. 1955 (1 of 2)De C. Fales (probably)

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the room (49){sup:113}. That {del:mmm}before the middle entrance into room (52) will be considered first. The north half of this inscription was missing when the mosaic was first {ins:xx}uncovered.{del:xx}Today there remains only, the partially preserved {del:south}[handwritten: southern] half. There were six lines in the inscriptionthree elegaic {del:couplets}[handwritten: couplets] couplets. The first line is so [handwritten: virtually] badly destroyed that, nothing [handwritten: deciphered.][handwritten: of significance] can be {del:made out of it.} The second through the sixth line reads as follows:

[handwritten: Ἰων ἐκ ποδὸς εὐστολίος Ἰρπs ἐπελήσατο ἀλλ' ἀρα καὶ τῆς Ἰως Λουτρα Χαριεσσαμενος Ἰδινε τὸ Κούριον ὡς ποτε Φοῖβος Ἰρυχιην θηκεν υπηνεμίην.]

The significant line here is {del:that}[handwritten: the fifth in] which {del:refers to} {ins:xx}some- {del:xx}{del:refers}[handwritten: is referred] body, {del:doing}[handwritten: does] something to Kourion as once did Phoebus. As this inscription must make reference to {del:xx}Christianityin the other longer and more important inscription on the west side of the same room (49), the name of Christ is pre- [handwritten: and cogent] served-{sup:114} the most {del:xxx} obvious [handwritten: in] assumption is that [handwritten: this line] {del:refers to Christ is refered to} Christ is refered to {del:refers to Christ} the sun, as is shown by Cyril of {del:Jerusalem}[handwritten: Alexandria,] the sun-god. The name Phoebus might mean [handwritten: Ἀπολλωνα μυθολογοῦσι θεὸν, ὃν καὶ Φοῖβον ὀνομάζουσιν, τοῦτ' ἔστι καθαρὸν καὶ ἀμίαντον. Τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ εἶναι τῷ ἡλίῳ φασί.]{sup:115} That Christ was thought of as being the new sun which had {del:xxxxx}superseded the old is shown {ins:xxx}amongst {ins:xx}other places{sup:116}