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Elias bishop of Hierissos (tenth/eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Patriarchal cross (X at crossing of lower bar) on two steps with fleurons rising from base (up to and beyond the upper horizontal bar). Circular inscription along border of dots.

ΚΕΟΗΘΗΤΟΣΟΔΟΥΛ

Κ(ύρι)ε βοήθη το σο δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, followed by row of pellets. Border of dots.

ΗΛΙ
ΑΕΠΙΣ
ΚΟΠΟΙΕ
ΡΙΣΟΥ
· · ·

Ἠλίᾳ ἐπισκόπο Ἱερισοῦ

Obverse

Patriarchal cross (X at crossing of lower bar) on two steps with fleurons rising from base (up to and beyond the upper horizontal bar). Circular inscription along border of dots.

ΚΕΟΗΘΗΤΟΣΟΔΟΥΛ

Κ(ύρι)ε βοήθη το σο δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, followed by row of pellets. Border of dots.

ΗΛΙ
ΑΕΠΙΣ
ΚΟΠΟΙΕ
ΡΙΣΟΥ
· · ·

Ἠλίᾳ ἐπισκόπο Ἱερισοῦ

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.520
Diameter 24.0 mm; field: 18.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 22.1. See also Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 471.

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

Translation

Κύριε βοήθη το σο δούλῳ Ἠλίᾳ ἐπισκόπο Ἱερισοῦ.

Lord, help your servant Elias bishop of Hierissos.

Commentary

This seal is one of the earliest known bishops of Hierissos. In Papachryssanthou's view (p. 388), this seal cannot be ascribed with certainty to Hierissos, the suffragan of Thessalonica; she notes a variant in the notitiae episcopatuum (Darrouzès, Notitiae, 332), where the bishop of Ἐρεσσός (Lesbos) is referred to as ὁ Ἱερισσοῦ. In our opinion, Laurent's attribution should be maintained since there is no reason to believe that the variant in notitia 10 is anything more than an error.

Modern Hierissos, Chalkidike, located at the foot of Mount Athos. The bishopric was established between 943 and 982 (perhaps after 972). Cf. Laurent, Corpus V/1, 345 and D. Papachryssanthou, "Histoire d'un évêché byzantin: Hiérissos en Chalcidique," TM 8 (1981) 373-96.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Histoire d’un évêché byzantin: Hiérissos en Chalcidique (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)