MAMA XI 357 (Kana) 
Boundary stone of church property
- Type of monument:
- Boundary stone of church property.
- Location:
- Gene (Beşağıl (Kana): in the wall of a yard.
- Description:
- White limestone stele with pediment and rough inset panel (Ht. 0.33, W. 0.24), broken above. Line 1 in the pediment.
- Dimensions:
- Ht. 1.24+; W. 0.37; Th. --; letters 0.015-0.040.
- Record:
- Squeeze; MB notebook copy; photograph (1957/53).
- Publication:
- Callander 1906: 163, no. 22.
- Date:
- Probably sixth century AD.
Α † Ω
† ὅροι τοῦ̣
ἁγίου κα̣ὶ̣
ἐνδόξ̣ο̣υ̣
5Ἰωά̣[ν]ο̣[υ] τ̣[οῦ]
Β̣α̣π̣[τιστοῦ].
Lines 5-6: Ιοδετερος | Θύρσου (sic) Callander.
Boundaries of (the church of) the glorious Saint John the Baptist.
Illustrations:
MAMA XI 357 (Kana 3: 1957-53)
Squeeze of MAMA XI 357 (Kana 3: 1957-53)
The lettering is extremely shallow, rendering the stone very difficult to read; despite the variant readings in lines 5-6, the correspondence of line-divisions makes it very likely that this stone is identical to that published by Callander in 1906.
A very similar inscription was copied by Ramsay around 50km to the east of Gene (Beşağıl), at ‘Tchandir Yaila, three hours west of Emir Ghazi’ (probably identical to Çandır Yaylası, 5km NW of Emirgazi): δύναμις θ(εο)ῦ καὶ χῖρ βασιλέως· ὅροι τοῦ ἀγίου Ἰωάννου τοῦ Βαπτιστοῦ, ἀμήν (Calder 1912c: 264). It is possible that one of the two inscriptions has migrated east or west across the plateau. Both monuments are boundary-stones marking the territory pertaining to a church of St John the Baptist, probably at or near Kana. Large numbers of boundary-stones of this kind were set up in the mid-sixth century as a result of an edict of AD 535 affirming the inalienability of all church property; cf. RECAM II 207-8; Amelotti and Zingale 1985: 132-6.