Bir el Qutt inscriptions
The Bir el Qutt inscriptions are the Old Georgian Byzantine mosaic inscriptions written in the Georgian Asomtavruli script which were excavated at a St. Theodore Georgian monastery in 1952 by Italian archaeologist Virgilio Canio Corbo near Bir el Qutt, in the Judaean Desert, 6 km south-east of Jerusalem and 2 km north of Bethlehem. The whole complex was built of reddish limestone.
Georgian inscriptions were found on a mosaic floor. Two inscriptions are dated AD 430 and the third one AD 532. The inscriptions mention Peter the Iberian alongside his father, and also Bacurius the Iberian who is thought to be a possible grandfather of Peter.
So far, the first two carvings are the oldest extant Georgian inscriptions. The inscriptions are kept at the museum of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem. Inscription 2 mentioning Peter the Iberian is currently missing.Inscriptions
Inscription 1
