Niketas patrikios and strategos of the Peloponnesos (eleventh century)
Obverse
The Virgin seated on a lyre-backed throne holding Christ on her lap. Sigla: .Θ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. On either side of her halo, a circular inscription along a border of dots.
ΘΚΕΟΗΘΕΙΤΣΔΟΥΛˋ
Θ(εοτό)κε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλ(ῳ)
Obverse
The Virgin seated on a lyre-backed throne holding Christ on her lap. Sigla: .Θ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. On either side of her halo, a circular inscription along a border of dots.
ΘΚΕΟΗΘΕΙΤΣΔΟΥΛˋ
Θ(εοτό)κε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλ(ῳ)
Reverse
Inscription of three lines preceded and followed by a decoration. A circular inscription within a border of dots completes the invocation:
ΝΙΚΗ
ΤΑΠΑΤΡ
ΙΚΙ.
Κ,ΣΤΡΑ..ΓΠΕΛΟΠΟΝΝΗΣ
Νικήτᾳ πατρικί[ῳ] κ(αὶ) στρα[τη]γῷ Πελοποννήσου
Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.1430 |
---|---|
Diameter | 25.0 mm; field: 22.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 2, no. 22.34. |
Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Νικήτᾳ πατρικίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Πελοποννήσου.
Mother of God, help your servant Niketas patrikios and strategos of the Peloponnesos.
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)
- La Morée franque: Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d’Achaïe (1205-1430) (Open in Zotero)
- Die Skleroi: Eine prosopographisch-sigillographische Studie (Open in Zotero)
- Theophanis Chronographia (Open in Zotero)
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- Realities of Byzantine Provincial Government: Hellas and Peloponnesos, 1180-1205 (Open in Zotero)
- Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
A remarkably well-crafted and beautifully rendered lead seal.