A True Kūfic Inscription on the Kapnikarea Church in Athens?*

Abstract

This article proposes that a “Kufesque” inscription on the Kapnikarea Church in Athens can be read as “al-Mulk lillāh” (power [belongs] to God), and suggests that such an inscription would not have been an unusual occurrence within the larger cultural context of eleventh-century Athens. *We wish to thank Yasser Tabbaa, Kevin Reinhart, and Nasser Rabbat on their views on whether the inscription is true or pseudo-Kufic and their suggested reading(s) of the phrase....