A New Syriac Mosaic Inscription*

摘要

The article provides the editio princeps of the Syriac inscription in a mosaic depicting Orpheus which is now in the Dallas Museum of Art. The mosaic is from Edessa and is dated 194 CE. It belongs to a series of such mosaics, but predates the other dated examples by over two decades. The inscription refers to the building of the tomb in which the mosaic was originally located and also mentions the profession of the mosaic-maker who made it, using a Syriac term, rāṣōpā, not otherwise attested in Classical Syriac in this sense.