Ostraka und Inschriften auf Tonscherben aus zwei Sondagen im sogenannten Serapeion in Ephesos

OSTRACA UND INSCRIPTIONS ON POTTERY FROM THE SO-CALLED SERAPEION IN EPHESOS. This is an edition of 21 inscribed potsherds that came to light in two sondages at the foot of the perron of the so-called Serapis temple or Serapeion. They are part of fill material that was used in Late Antiquity to level the natural ground. The epigraphic finds can be classified for the most part as ostraca; no more than three potsherds can be associated with inscriptions on instrumenta domestica. There are several indications that the transmitted texts should be associated with the 5th and – at the latest – the first half of the 6th century. In any case, the dating suggests a connection with the church (probably dedicated to a John) that was built in the late 4th and early 5th century on the foundations (within the cella) of the Serapeion. The common characteristics exhibited by the treated pieces with regard to their place of discovery, their chronological classification and their content suggest that they may have originated, at least in part, from an archive that predominantly documented economic procedures and may perhaps be assigned to an ecclesiastical context.