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George II Xiphilinos, patriarch of Constantinople (1191–1198)

 
 

Obverse

The Mother of God, seated on a backless throne, holding Christ on knees. At left and right, sigla: Ρ̣ΘΥ : [Μ(ήτη)]ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription on seven lines preceded by a cross. Border of dots.


.ΕΩΡΓ...
.ΛΕΘΥΑΡΧ
ΠΙΣΚΟΠ.ΣΚ
ΝΤΙΝΠΟΛ
ΑΣΡΩΣ
ΚΜΕΝΙ
ΑΡΧ..

[Γ]εώργ[ιος ἐ]λέῳ Θ(εο)ῦ ἀρχ[ιε]πίσκοπ[ο]ς Κ[ωνστα]ντινουπόλ[εως Νέ]ας Ῥώμης [καὶ οἰ]κουμενι[κὸς πατρι]άρχ[ης]

Obverse

The Mother of God, seated on a backless throne, holding Christ on knees. At left and right, sigla: Ρ̣ΘΥ : [Μ(ήτη)]ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription on seven lines preceded by a cross. Border of dots.


.ΕΩΡΓ...
.ΛΕΘΥΑΡΧ
ΠΙΣΚΟΠ.ΣΚ
ΝΤΙΝΠΟΛ
ΑΣΡΩΣ
ΚΜΕΝΙ
ΑΡΧ..

[Γ]εώργ[ιος ἐ]λέῳ Θ(εο)ῦ ἀρχ[ιε]πίσκοπ[ο]ς Κ[ωνστα]ντινουπόλ[εως Νέ]ας Ῥώμης [καὶ οἰ]κουμενι[κὸς πατρι]άρχ[ης]

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.975
Diameter 34.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 6, no. 124.1; Zacos, Seals 2: no. 32b. For similar specimens see Zacos, Seals 2: no. 32a and Laurent, Corpus 5.1: no. 29. Cf. Galavaris, “Thokos,” no. 44.

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

Translation

Γεώργιος ἐλέῳ Θεοῦ ἀρχιεπίσκοπος Κωνσταντινουπόλεως Νέας Ῥώμης καὶ οἰκουμενικὸς πατριάρχης.

George, by the grace of God, archbishop of Constantinople, the New Rome, and ecumenical patriarch.

Commentary

George is known to have served as a priest of Hagia Sophia in 1182, when the protosebastos Alexios used him as an emissary to the rebel Andronikos Komnenos. Following the abdication of Patriarch Dositheos, Emperor Isaakios II selected George as his successor. He survived Isaakios’s deposition and continued as patriarch under Alexios III. His reign is well known for a decree that stated that any church built upon stauropegial land was to be under the control of the local bishop, who would nominate its priests and receive the ecclesiastical tax known as the kanonikon. See Monastic Foundation Documents 3: 1102–3 and DHGE 20: cols. 669–70.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 6, Emperors, Patriarchs of Constantinople, Addenda (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • The Representation of the Virgin and Child on a ‘Thokos’ on Seals of the Constantinopolitan Patriarchs (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents: A Complete Translation of the Surviving Founders’ Typika and Testaments (Open in Zotero)