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Thomas bishop of Eudokias (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin with hands open before her. Sigla with tongues of fire. .Ρ̅Θ̅Υ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

.θκε
μα
.πικοπˊ
ευδοκι
αδˊ

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Θωμᾷ πισκόπ Εὐδοκιάδος

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin with hands open before her. Sigla with tongues of fire. .Ρ̅Θ̅Υ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

.θκε
μα
.πικοπˊ
ευδοκι
αδˊ

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Θωμᾷ πισκόπ Εὐδοκιάδος

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.2063
Diameter 23.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 104.2.

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

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Θωμᾷ ἐπισκόπῳ Εὐδοκιάδος.

Mother of God, help Thomas, bishop of Eudokias.

Commentary

Three bishoprics in Asia Minor are known to the notitiae under the name Eudokias: (a) a suffragan of Ikonion in Lykaonia, identified with Çesmelisebil, 85 km to the north of Konya, a place that was the seat of a regiment of the theme of the Anatolikoi that was transferred to the theme of Kappodokia in the early 10th century (De Adm. Imp., chap. 50, line 97; Galatien und Lykaonien, 166); (b) a suffragan of Myra in Lykia, probably identical to the ancient Pyrrha (in the neighborhood of modern Kalkan, opposite to Kastellorizo); it was also called Ioustinianoupolis, and is attested only once, in 518; and (c) a suffragan of Perge in Pamphylia, which is identified with modern Karpinarköy, and is attested several times between 325 and 787. See DHGE 15 (1963) 1335, 1335-36.

It is probable that both this seal and BZS.1958.106.5439 come from the same Eudokias, as they both display the same type of Virgin.

Bibliography