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Constantine bishop of Paros (eleventh/twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans with the medallion of Christ before her. On either side, the sigla: ..ΘΥ̅: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΚΕ̅,Θ,
ΤΣΔ,
Κ̅̅ΝΕΠΙΣ
ΚΟΠ,ΠΑ
Ρ

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Κωνσταντίνῳ ἐπισκόπ Πάρου

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans with the medallion of Christ before her. On either side, the sigla: ..ΘΥ̅: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΚΕ̅,Θ,
ΤΣΔ,
Κ̅̅ΝΕΠΙΣ
ΚΟΠ,ΠΑ
Ρ

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Κωνσταντίνῳ ἐπισκόπ Πάρου

Accession number BZS.1947.2.130
Diameter 25.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 53.1.
Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 711 (slightly different reading).

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Κωνσταντίνῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Πάρου.

Lord, help your servant Constantine bishop of Paros.

Commentary

Today this island in the Cyclades is still known as Paros. Paros was a bishopric suffragan of Rhodes attested already in 431; it continued in this status until 1083 when the see was joined with Naxos and became a metropolis under the name of Paronaxia (cf. Zacos, Seals II, no. 1039). See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 537; Fedalto, 219-20; Malamut, Iles, 215, 356; ODB III, 1590-91.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • Les îles de l’empire byzantin: VIIIe-XIIe siècles (Open in Zotero)