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Constantine (bishop) of Euripos (eleventh/twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

The Mother of God three quarters, perhaps seated, holding Christ. On either side the sigla: ̅Θ̅ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εοῦ). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, decoration above. Border of dots.


ΑΓΝΗ
ΣΚΕΠΟΙΣΜ,
ΚΝΣΛΑ
ΤΡΗΤΟΝ
ΕΙΠ

Ἁγνὴ σκέποις μ(οι) Κων(σταντίνῳ) σῷ λάτρῃ τὸν Ἐβρίπου

Obverse

The Mother of God three quarters, perhaps seated, holding Christ. On either side the sigla: ̅Θ̅ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εοῦ). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, decoration above. Border of dots.


ΑΓΝΗ
ΣΚΕΠΟΙΣΜ,
ΚΝΣΛΑ
ΤΡΗΤΟΝ
ΕΙΠ

Ἁγνὴ σκέποις μ(οι) Κων(σταντίνῳ) σῷ λάτρῃ τὸν Ἐβρίπου

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.713
Diameter 21.0 mm; field: 15.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 14.2; Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 609; cf. Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden I, no. 33.

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

Translation

Ἁγνὴ σκέποις μοι Κωνσταντίνῳ σῷ λάτρῃ τὸν Ἐβρίπου.

Holy One, watch over me, your servant Constantine, (bishop) of Euripos.

Commentary

This is a metrical inscription, although the bishop's name is omitted. It is a correct twelve syllable verse, although it contains an unnecessary but not unusual inconsistency in the transition from the dative to accusative. The impression remains that there was initially an anonymous seal of the bishop Euripos (see DO Seals 2, no. 5.1), that Constantine had copied on his boulloterion, inserting his name right in the middle. Examples like this one makes us think that the anonymous boulloteria of bishops may well have been used by the personnel of the bishoprics during vacancies. Cf. N. Oikonomides, "The Anonymous Seal," SBS 4 (1994).

Ancient and modern Chalkis on Euboia. The bishopric was first known as Chalkis, then, from 869 onward, as Euripos, a name appearing in all notitae episcopatuum. A bishopric in 943, Euripos was promoted to the rank of archbishopric during the 11th century (this seal), but then was demoted back to the rank of bishopric once more at the beginning of the reign of Alexios I. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 45; Koder-Hild, Hellas, 156-58; Fedalto, 497-98; Lihačev, Molivdovuly, 158, pl. LXVIII, no. 6.

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)
  • The Anonymous Seal (Open in Zotero)
  • Hellas und Thessalia (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • Molivdovuly grečeskogo Vostoka (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 1, Siegellegenden von Alpha bis inclusive My (Open in Zotero)