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Christopher (bishop) of Noumerika (eighth/ninth century)

 
 

Obverse

The Virgin standing, holding Christ. On either side, cruciform invocative monograms: Θεοτόκε-βοήθει. Crosses in the four quarters. Below, between the monograms and the figure of the Virgin, the inscription: Ν|Μ|ΕΡΙ|Κ|Ν. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Νουμερικῶν

Reverse

A cruciform monogram: τῷ σῷ δούλῳ. In the quarters: ΧΡΙΣΤΟ|ΦΟΡ. Crosses in all four quarters. Wreath border.

τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Χριστοφόρῳ

Obverse

The Virgin standing, holding Christ. On either side, cruciform invocative monograms: Θεοτόκε-βοήθει. Crosses in the four quarters. Below, between the monograms and the figure of the Virgin, the inscription: Ν|Μ|ΕΡΙ|Κ|Ν. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Νουμερικῶν

Reverse

A cruciform monogram: τῷ σῷ δούλῳ. In the quarters: ΧΡΙΣΤΟ|ΦΟΡ. Crosses in all four quarters. Wreath border.

τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Χριστοφόρῳ

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.511
Diameter 35.0 mm; field: 27.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 61.1. See also Laurent, Corpus, V/1, no. 396.

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

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Νουμερικῶν τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Χριστοφόρῳ.

Mother of God, help your servant Christophoros (bishop) of Noumerika.

Commentary

Note the unusual order of the reading. Laurent dated this specimen to the ninth century and was inclined to ascribe it to a close predecessor of the Constantine attested in 869. Zacos-Veglery have properly dated the specimen to the period 787-815.

The location of Noumerika is unknown. It is listed in Darrouzès, Notitiae, no. 4, line 197 (of the ninth) c. as a suffragan of Nicaea and appears in all subsequent notitiae until the thirteenth century. Its earliest mention in literature dates to the first half of the ninth century in the correspondence of Ignatios of Nicaea. Its bishop Constantine attended the Eigth Oecumenical Council of 869. Our seal may constitute the earliest attestation of the bishopric. Cf. Laurent, Corpus V/1, 285-86.

To the list of known bishops of Noumerika should now be added the name of Theodore attested on an eleventh-century seal published by Zacos, Seals II, no. 726. Also note that seal no. 395 in Laurent, Corpus V/1, has been republished by Seyrig, no. 261.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Les sceaux byzantins de la Collection Henri Seyrig (Open in Zotero)