Епиграфски хипотези за иконата „Господарка на живота"
Epigraphic Hypotheses on the Icon Kyrie tes Zoes (The Lady of Life)

Summary/Abstract: This article is directly linked with G.Gerov's study and to a certain extent brings out another methodological approach in the interpretation of the icon of the Holy Virgin Koithe tes Zohes (the Bossom and Deathbed of Life) from Nessebar in the exhibition of the National Art Gallery - the Crypt. The aim of the author is to present the instrumentarium and the phases of an epigraphic study, which according to the method of exclusion, arrives at some ideas on the linking of the inscription, with the iconography and functions of the icon. E.Moutafov's approach besides linguistic and epigraphic lines, relies on a variety of illustrative material, ranging from the 11th to the 19th c. and covering an area from Antioch, through Rome and Constantinople, as far as Russia, making use of lexicographical, paleographical and folklore data etc. Eventually what is offered is a a new, hypothetical reading of the inscription - the Bossom and Deathbed of Life, which in opinion of the author semantically better corresponds to the concrete image. The article is interesting on the one hand from a methodological point of view in modern art history, and on the other through its application - it is a valuable source of epithets used in iconography.

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