John bishop of Belikeia (eleventh/twelfth century)
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin holding Christ. SIgla: Μ̄Θ̄: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of four lines, decoration above. Border of dots.
ΘΚΕ,Θ,
Ι̅ΕΠΙΣ
Κ,ΠΕ
ΛΙΚΙΑΣ
Θεοτόκε βοήθει Ἰωάννῃ ἐπισκόπῳ Βελικίας
Accession number | BZS.1955.1.4651 |
---|---|
Diameter | 16.0 mm; field: 11.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 1, no. 38.1. |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει Ἰωάννῃ ἐπισκόπῳ Βελικίας.
Theotokos, help John bishop of Belikeia.
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)
- Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
The exact location of Belikeia is unknown, and indeed it may not have been a town but a region peopled by Slavs, located along the borders between the ecclesiastical jurisdictions of Philippoi and Philippoupolis. As Laurent notes, all ecclesiastical lists, beginning with the tenth century, record a Belikeia, suffragan of Philippoi, and a Belikeia, suffragan of Philippoupolis (e.g.Darrouzès, Notitiae, 285, lines 593, 616). Laurent is undoubtedly correct that if these double mentions simply involved an error, the mistake would eventually have been corrected. Accordingly, it seems that we are dealing with a group of people that engaged in herding and moved from one region to the other, according to the season. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 540-41.