Endnote 9 – Earliest Christian Inscription
While laos almost certainly means “people” in verse 9 (see n. 11), it is indeed possible that some who heard the Greek word would also have associated it indirectly with an aniconic stone deity (since laos can occasionally substitute for laas, which means “stone”). In the same verse, the word “seal” (sphragis), which can also refer to a precious gem or stone for a ring, would seem to suggest this. Likewise, its modifying adjective, “radiant,” could implicitly describe the sun or a sun god. Yet Avercius does not refer explicitly to a stone, the sun or a sun god. And further, Avercius would likely not have referred to Antoninus/Elagablus, since the inscription dates before 216 C.E., and Antoninus/Elagablus became emperor in 218 C.E. On the other hand, given the language of our poem and the prevalence of sun worship during this period, Avercius may well have used Greco-Roman religious vocabulary that, for some readers and listeners, would have obliquely and subtly evoked images of the sun god and this stone.