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(The xenon of) St. Sampson (sixth/seventh century)

 
 

Obverse

St. Sampson standing with his hands uplifted, palms outward. At left and right, a cross. Wreath border.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Indeterminate border.

ΤΟΥ
ΟΣΙΟΥ
ΣΜΨ
Ω

τοῦ ὁσίου Σαμψώ(ν)

Obverse

St. Sampson standing with his hands uplifted, palms outward. At left and right, a cross. Wreath border.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Indeterminate border.

ΤΟΥ
ΟΣΙΟΥ
ΣΜΨ
Ω

τοῦ ὁσίου Σαμψώ(ν)

Accession number BZS.1947.2.28
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 37.1c.

Translation

τοῦ ὁσίου Σαμψών.

(Seal of the xenon of) St. Sampson.

Commentary

The hospital of St. Sampson was located between St. Eirene's church and Hagia Sophia. T. Miller has argued that Sampson, a physician, was active in the fourth century and it was at this time that he established a modest hospital for the relief of the poor. According to hagiographical sources, he lived in the sixth century. He cured Justinian I of a bladder infection and in gratitude the emperor endowed a splendid hospital in his name. From a reference in the Miracles of St. Artemios (p. 127) it is known that the hospital had physicians who specialized in eye care, as well as surgery. See ODB 3: 1837; and Miller, "Sampson Hospital," 101–116.

Although we have transcribed the institution's name as Σαμψώ(ν) it would appear on the basis of seals that the institution was regularly known in Byzantine Greek as Σαμψώ. Zacos and Veglery, no 1366 (=BZS.1958.106.4431), have published a specimen that is decorated with a cross potent on the obverse and bears on the reverse the inscription CAMΨW. The object has no channel and may possibly be a token of the xenon of St. Sampson.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 5: The East (continued), Constantinople and Environs, Unknown Locations, Addenda, Uncertain Readings (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • The Miracles of St. Artemios: A Collection of Miracle Stories by an Anonymous Author of Seventh-Century Byzantium (Open in Zotero)
  • Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Open in Zotero)
  • The Sampson Hospital of Constantinople (Open in Zotero)