The Stele of Davati ( ka, დავათის სტელა) is a cross-shaped
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
stele
A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...
, carrying a
bas-relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
, depicting
Virgin Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
alongside the
archangel
Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the Catholic hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book ''De Coelesti Hierarchia'' (''On the Celestial Hierarchy'') ...
s
Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* he He ..., a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name
* Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...
and
Gabriel
In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...
, with one of the earliest inscriptions in Georgian ''
Asomtavruli script''. Two other men depicted in the bas-relief could not yet be identified; maybe they are the sponsors of the stele. The upper part of the stele that is assumed to have been depiction of the ''
Feast of the Ascension
The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ (also called the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday) commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. It ...
'' is broken and lost. It has been dated from the 4th to the 5th century. The stele was discovered in 1985 in a small Church of the Virgin in highland village of Davati,
Dusheti Municipality
Dusheti ( ka, დუშეთის მუნიციპალიტეტი) is a municipality of Georgia, in the region of Mtskheta-Mtianeti. It has a population of 25,659 and an area of 2,981.5 km2.
Municipality main town is Dusheti.
...
.
[Abramishvili, G & Aleksidze, Z. (1990), "A national motif in the iconographic programme depicted on the Davati Stela". ''Le Muséon'', Vol. 103. # 3-4: 283-292]
Hypothesis
The Georgian scholar Ramin Ramishvili conjectures that the combination of letters ႩႲႽ corresponds to the number 5320 (5000 + 300 + 20, correspondingly
Ⴉ +
Ⴒ +
Ⴝ , which may denote, according to
Georgian numerals
The Georgian numerals are the system of number names used in Georgian, a language spoken in the country of Georgia. The Georgian numerals from 30 to 99 are constructed using a base-20 system, similar to the scheme used in Basque, French f ...
, the year 284 BC, the alleged date of creation of the first
Georgian script
The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their letters share the same names and alphabetical order and are writte ...
.
[
]
See also
* Stele of Serapeitis
*Stele of Vespasian
The Stele of Vespasian ( ka, ვესპასიანეს სტელა) is a stele celebrating Roman emperor Vespasian. It was written in Ancient Greek and found in 1867 at Armazi, near Mtskheta, Georgia in the ancient capital of the Ca ...
References
Bibliography
*Machabeli, K. (2008) Early Medieval Georgian Stone Crosses, , Chubinashvili National Research Centre for History of Georgian Art and Monument Protection, {{ISBN, 978-9941-0-2109-1
External links
History of Georgia through Artifacts: Stele of Davati
on Georgian Public Broadcasting
Georgian Public Broadcaster ( ka, საქართველოს საზოგადოებრივი მაუწყებელი, ) is the national public broadcaster of Georgia.
History
It started broadcasting radio in 1925, and ...
Davati
Georgian inscriptions
5th-century artifacts
5th-century inscriptions
1985 archaeological discoveries