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The archbishop of Corfou (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Saints Peter and Paul standing, turned toward each other and gesticulating; details indistinct. On the left, the inscription: |Π|Ε|Τ|Ρ: ὁ ἅγιος Πέτρος. On the right: .|.|Α|.|Λ|Ο: ὁ ἅγιος Παλος. No border visible.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines, probably beginning with a cross; traces of a decoration below. Border of dots.

.ΤΟΝ
ΚΕΡΚΥ
ΡΑΣΠΡΟΕ
ΔΡΟΝΕΝ
ΓΡΑΦΗ
ΓΡΑΦΩ
 

Τὸν Κερκύρας πρόεδρον ἐν γραφῇ γράφω

Obverse

Saints Peter and Paul standing, turned toward each other and gesticulating; details indistinct. On the left, the inscription: |Π|Ε|Τ|Ρ: ὁ ἅγιος Πέτρος. On the right: .|.|Α|.|Λ|Ο: ὁ ἅγιος Παλος. No border visible.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines, probably beginning with a cross; traces of a decoration below. Border of dots.

.ΤΟΝ
ΚΕΡΚΥ
ΡΑΣΠΡΟΕ
ΔΡΟΝΕΝ
ΓΡΑΦΗ
ΓΡΑΦΩ
 

Τὸν Κερκύρας πρόεδρον ἐν γραφῇ γράφω

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.2096
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 868.
Cf. parallel from the same boulloterion published by N. I. Giannopoulos, "Μολυβδόβουλλα προερχόμενα ἐκ τοῦ Νοτίου Μεσαιωνικοῦ Ἀλμυροῦ," BZ 17 (1908) 131-33, 141, no. αˊ.

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

Translation

Τὸν Κερκύρας πρόεδρον ἐν γραφῇ γράφω.

I inscribe the archbishop of Corfou in the letter.

Commentary

One dodecasyllabic verse. As Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 864, has shown, the metropolitan church of Corfou was dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul; this is why they appear so often on the seals of prelates of Corfou. Given the rank of the church of Corfou we take "proedros" as archbishop.

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)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Les îles de l’empire byzantin: VIIIe-XIIe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Sceaux byzantins du musée de Constantinople (Open in Zotero)
  • Recherches sur l’administration de l’empire byzantin aux IX-XIème siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzance et la mer: La marine de guerre, la politique et les institutions maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe–VXe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Nikopolis und Kephallenia (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)