Ignatios metropolitan of Nicaea (tenth century)
Obverse
A cross on two steps mounted on a ball. Three pellets, in form of a trilobe, adorn the three ends of the cross. Within a border of dots, circular inscription:
+ΚΕΟΗΘΕΙΤΣΔΟΥΛ.
Κ(ύρι)ε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Obverse
A cross on two steps mounted on a ball. Three pellets, in form of a trilobe, adorn the three ends of the cross. Within a border of dots, circular inscription:
+ΚΕΟΗΘΕΙΤΣΔΟΥΛ.
Κ(ύρι)ε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of five lines. Border of dots:
+ΙΓΝΑ
ΤΙΩΜΗ
ΤΡ.ΠΟΛ
ΙΤΗΝΙ
ΚΑΙΑΣ
Ἰγνατίῳ μητρ[ο]πολίτῃ Νικαίας
Accession number | BZS.1955.1.4809 |
---|---|
Diameter | 21.0 mm; field: 16.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 59.9. |
Translation
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Ἰγνατίῳ μητροπολίτῃ Νικαίας.
Lord, help your servant Ignatios, metropolitan of Nicaea.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Épistoliers byzantins du Xe siècle (Open in Zotero)
- De Thematibus (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
- La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, vol. 2, Les églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins (Open in Zotero)
- Die Städte Kleinasiens im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Laurent was right not to assign this seal to Ignatios of Nicaea who was active in the first half of the ninth century. He proposed a certain Ignatios Magentios, who seems to have occupied the throne of Nicaea sometime around 945: he is mentioned in one letter of Alexander of Nicaea as being his successor, but in another letter of the same prelate the successor is called Lazaros (Darrouzès, Épistoliers, line 6, cf. 77, line 23). There is no way to solve this contradiction, except to hypothesize that the name Lazaros was used as a pun to indicate someone returned from oblivion ("resurrected"); but this is sheer hypothesis.