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Anna Dalassene, prote (nun) and kouropalatissa (1067-1081)

 
 

Obverse

Βust of the Mother of God orans, with the medallion of Christ before her (known from the parallel examples listed below). Indeterminate border.

Reverse

Inscription of seven lines. Border of dots.

..ΚΕΟ
ΗΘ..ΤΗΣΗ
ΔΛΗΑΝΝΗ
ΑΚΟΥΡΟΠΑ
ΛΑΤΙΣΗΤΗ
ΔΑΛΑΣΣΙ
ΝΗ

[Θ(εοτό)κ]ε βοήθ[ει] τῇ σῇ δούλῃ Ἄννῃ (πρώ)τ(ῃ), κουροπαλατίσῃ τῇ Δαλασσινῇ

Obverse

Βust of the Mother of God orans, with the medallion of Christ before her (known from the parallel examples listed below). Indeterminate border.

Reverse

Inscription of seven lines. Border of dots.

..ΚΕΟ
ΗΘ..ΤΗΣΗ
ΔΛΗΑΝΝΗ
ΑΚΟΥΡΟΠΑ
ΛΑΤΙΣΗΤΗ
ΔΑΛΑΣΣΙ
ΝΗ

[Θ(εοτό)κ]ε βοήθ[ει] τῇ σῇ δούλῃ Ἄννῃ (πρώ)τ(ῃ), κουροπαλατίσῃ τῇ Δαλασσινῇ

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4543
Diameter 28.0 mm
Previous Editions

Zacos-Veglery, no. 2695b; and Laurent, Corpus V/2, no. 1460.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῇ σῇ δούλῃ Ἄννῃ πρώτῃ, κουροπαλατίσῃ τῇ Δαλασσινῇ.

Mother of God, help your servant Anna Dalassene prote, kouropalatissa.

Commentary

This is the mother of Alexios I Komnenos and grandmother of Anna Komnene. We have preferred the reading nun and kouropalatissa to protokouropalatissa since she would have held the dignity of kouropalatissa by virtue of her husband John Komnenos' elevation to kouropalates by his brother the emperor Isaac I Komnenos in 1057; he held this dignity until his death in 1067. We prefer to read the abbreviation preceding kouropalatissa as πρώτη in keeping with her later vocation as a nun, in which case the seal will have been struck some time after 1072. On her career and the seals issued by her, see Cheynet, "Les Dalassenoi" (no. 16), in Société byzantine, vol. 2; and Eric McGeer, John Nesbitt, Byzantium in the Time of Troubles: The Continuation of the Chronicle of John Skylitzes (1057-1079), 14-17, with further references.

Bibliography