Qubbat aš-Šayẖ

 

The displayed Syriac inscription is part of a floor mosaic from a house at Qubbat aš-Šayẖ, a small village located 12 kilometers to the northwest of al-Bāb (Aleppo Governorate); it was discovered in 1971 along with a Greek inscription, a cross, and geometrical designs forming the said floor, which measured 15 x 20 meters (?!). The inscription is framed by a rectangle, but the right lower corner is damaged, and part of the last line is therefore missing. The writing is comprised of six lines translated as follows:

1. I am brother

2. Qōzmā ʾAmnā (who made)

3. from Aleppo, I built

4. this church, every

5. one (whosoever) ascends (enters) to pray to God

6. his sins shall be forgiven

Collection of the National Museum of Damascus. 
ʿAlī ʾabu ʿAssāf. Kitābāt siryānīyyā ǧadīdā fi al-matḥaf al-waṭanī bidimašq. Annales Archéologiques Arabes Syriennes XXII 1972 (pp. 135-144).