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Leo anthypatos, patrikios and strategos of Samos (tenth century)

 
 

Obverse

Beautifully engraved bust of St. John the Baptist holding a long processional cross with his right hand, and offering a blessing with his left. On either side, a vertical inscription: Ο|Α|ΓΙ,Ι|ΟΠΡ|Ο|Δ,: ὁ ἅγι(ος) Ἰω(άννης) ὁ Πρόδ(ρομος). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Double border of dots.

λεν
ανθυπατ,
πατρηκηο,
σταρτηγ
οστησ
σαμ

Λέων ἀνθύπατ(ος), πατρήκηο(ς) (καὶ) σταρτηγὸς τῆς Σάμου

Obverse

Beautifully engraved bust of St. John the Baptist holding a long processional cross with his right hand, and offering a blessing with his left. On either side, a vertical inscription: Ο|Α|ΓΙ,Ι|ΟΠΡ|Ο|Δ,: ὁ ἅγι(ος) Ἰω(άννης) ὁ Πρόδ(ρομος). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Double border of dots.

λεν
ανθυπατ,
πατρηκηο,
σταρτηγ
οστησ
σαμ

Λέων ἀνθύπατ(ος), πατρήκηο(ς) (καὶ) σταρτηγὸς τῆς Σάμου

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1311
Diameter 27.0 mm; field: 25.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 44.5.

Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore.

Translation

Λέων ἀνθύπατος, πατρήκηος καὶ στρατηγὸς τῆς Σάμου.

Leo anthypatos, patrikios and strategos of Samos.

Commentary

This seal contains two errors attributable to the engraver: St. John blessing with his left hand (!) and the transposition of letters in στρατηγός (tacitly corrected in the final reading).

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)
  • Samos in frühchristlicher und byzantinischer Zeit (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Βυζαντιακὰ μολυβδόβουλλα τοῦ ἐν ἈΘήναις Ἐθνικοῦ Νομισματικοῦ Μουσείου (Open in Zotero)
  • De Thematibus (Open in Zotero)
  • Monumenta Latrensia Hagiographica (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (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)