Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Profile of a Syrian epigrapher

GREEK AND NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY: Malatius Jaghnoon, is a unique Syrian epigrapher (Amal Farhat, Syria Times).
Malatius Jibriel Jaghnoon, is a Syrian engineer and epigrapher specialized in Aramaic and Greek inscriptions. He was born in Latakia , Jableh, in 1943. He graduated as a civil engineer from the University of Aleppo in 1968. His interest in epigraphy led him to learn several ancient languages including Aramaic and Greek.

Deciphering a number of Syriac and Greek inscriptions from an ancient church in Tal Eltiten, in the Al-Ghab area in Syria to the west of Apamea, an inscription from Maarrat al-Nu'man Museum and an inscription from the agora of Palmyra, were among his epigraphical works inside Syria.

He is a founding member of the Archaeological Society of Homs " Al-Adiyat" and was elected as head of the society from 2011 until he left Syria several years ago.

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Is he really "the only one in Syria who can read ancient Greek inscriptions?" In any case, it sounds as though he has done a lot of important epigraphic work.

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