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John (or Ioannikios) bishop of Ankyra (tenth century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding a medallion of Christ before her. Traces of sigla: ̅-θ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ[(εο)ῦ]. Traces of a circular inscription, beginning at 7 o'clock. Border of dots.

+θκεRο.....

Θ(εοτό)κε βο[ήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ]

Reverse

Inscription of five lines ending with an eight-ray star, floral decoration below.

+ιαν
νη,επισ
κοπαγ
κ.ρασ
ψ

Ἰωάννῃ ἐπισκόπῳ Ἀγκ[ύ]ρας

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding a medallion of Christ before her. Traces of sigla: ̅-θ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ[(εο)ῦ]. Traces of a circular inscription, beginning at 7 o'clock. Border of dots.

+θκεRο.....

Θ(εοτό)κε βο[ήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ]

Reverse

Inscription of five lines ending with an eight-ray star, floral decoration below.

+ιαν
νη,επισ
κοπαγ
κ.ρασ
ψ

Ἰωάννῃ ἐπισκόπῳ Ἀγκ[ύ]ρας

Accession number BZS.1947.2.40
Diameter 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 7.1.

Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 733 (listed by Laurent as Shaw Collection, no. 1117).

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Ἰωάννῃ ἐπισκόπῳ Ἀγκύρας.

Mother of God, help your servant John, bishop of Ankyra.

Commentary

Ankyra of Phrygia, probably identical to Bogaz Köy (former Kilise Köy) on the western shore of Simav Göl (71 km northwest of Usak), was a bishopric suffragan to Laodikeia and appears in the early notitiae (Darrouzès, Notitiae, nos. 1-4) under the name Ankyrosynaos. In the course of the eighth century it came under the metropolis of Hierapolis and appears in all further notitiae as Ankyra, followed by the bishopric of Synaos (Darrouzès, Notitiae, nos. 7-13). See Hirschfeld in RE 1 (1894) 2222; Laurent, Corpus V/1, 557; Phyrgien und Pisidien, 184-85.

After the η of Ἰωάννῃ there is a very clear abbreviation sign. The name could hence be read as Ἰωαννη(κίῳ), which could simply be taken as a diminutive for John.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Phrygien und Pisidien (Open in Zotero)