Polyeuktos deacon, synkellos and protekdikos (tenth century)
Obverse
Bust of the Mother of God (with the unusual epithet Alypos = "free of sorrow"), orans with the medallion of Christ before her. Sigla on either side: ΜΡΘΥ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Along the upper circumference, the inscription: ΗΑΛΥΠ: Ἡ Ἄλυπος. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription in seven lines with decoration above. Border of dots.
.ΓΝΗΣΡΑ
.ΙΣΜΟΙΠΟΛΥ
ΕYΚΤΣΥΓΚΕ
ΛΛΤΝΕΚΔΙ
Κ...ΡΤ
ΤΕ.ΔΙΑ
Κ..
Ἀγνὴ σφραγίς μοι Πολυέκτῳ συγκέλλῳ
τῶν ἐκδικων πρώτῳ τε (καὶ) διακόνῳ
Obverse
Bust of the Mother of God (with the unusual epithet Alypos = "free of sorrow"), orans with the medallion of Christ before her. Sigla on either side: ΜΡΘΥ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Along the upper circumference, the inscription: ΗΑΛΥΠ: Ἡ Ἄλυπος. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription in seven lines with decoration above. Border of dots.
.ΓΝΗΣΡΑ
.ΙΣΜΟΙΠΟΛΥ
ΕYΚΤΣΥΓΚΕ
ΛΛΤΝΕΚΔΙ
Κ...ΡΤ
ΤΕ.ΔΙΑ
Κ..
Ἀγνὴ σφραγίς μοι Πολυέκτῳ συγκέλλῳ
τῶν ἐκδικων πρώτῳ τε (καὶ) διακόνῳ
| Accession number | BZS 1951.31.5.2596 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 39.0 mm; field: 20.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 108 (with errors in reading and restitution). See Nesbitt, "Overstruck seals," no. 7, and Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden I, no. 39. |
| Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Ἀγνὴ σφραγίς μοι Πολυέκτῳ συγκέλλῳ
τῶν ἐκδικων πρώτῳ τε καὶ διακόνῳ.
Holy seal [i.e. the Virgin], (help) me, the synkellos Polyeuktos, protos of the ekdikoi and deacon.
Bibliography
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 1, Siegellegenden von Alpha bis inclusive My (Open in Zotero)
- Overstruck Seals in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
This seal was struck four times by the same die in an effort to cover up an understrike, the existence of which is clear from the remnants left around and within the four strikes, but which cannot be read. The readings here given of the obverse and reverse combine the four strikes present on this seal (of which there are two obverses and two reverses on both sides). The reverse contains two dodecasyllables. The second inverts the words protos and ekdikos for sake of the metre.
In his commentary to this seal, Laurent speculated that the Polyeuktos named upon it was the future Patriarch (956-970) famous for his clashes with the emperors Nikephoros Phokas and John Tzimiskes.