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John metropolitan of Patras (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Andrew, details indistinct. Inscription: |Α|ΝΔ|Ρ: ὁ ἅγιος Ἀνδρεας. Border of dots.

Reverse

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

 
ΙΑΝ
.ΕΛΕΘΥ
ΜΗΤΡΟΠ
ΟΛΠΑΤ
ΡΝ

Ἰωάννης ἐλέῳ Θεοῦ μητροπολίτης Πατρῶν.

Obverse

Bust of St. Andrew, details indistinct. Inscription: |Α|ΝΔ|Ρ: ὁ ἅγιος Ἀνδρεας. Border of dots.

Reverse

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

 
ΙΑΝ
.ΕΛΕΘΥ
ΜΗΤΡΟΠ
ΟΛΠΑΤ
ΡΝ

Ἰωάννης ἐλέῳ Θεοῦ μητροπολίτης Πατρῶν.

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4818
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 34.2.

Translation

Ἰωάννης ἐλέῳ Θεοῦ μητροπολίτης Πατρῶν.

John, by the mercy of God metropolitan of Patras.

Commentary

Today Patras, the city of St. Andrew. The see of Patras was functioning by the 4th century; it is mentioned as an archbishopric in the iconoclastic notitia and perhaps in the council of 787 (Darrouzès, Notitiae, 23, note 1 and no. 3, line 55). Sometime between 802 and 806 it was raised to the rank of a metropolis by being attributed three suffragans: Lakedaimonia, Methone and Korone. All this information concerning the foundation of the metropolis and its right to collect taxes from the neighboring Slavic populations is related to a miraculous intervention of St. Andrew to save the city from Slav rebels. In the 10th century, an archon exercised authority in Patras (Corinth XII, no. 2705). See Laurent, in REB 21 (1963) 129-36; Laurent, Corpus V/1, 471; Fedalto, 517-19; ODB II, 1597-98; Bon, Morée francque, 449-57.

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)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
  • Corinth, Vol. 12, The Minor Objects (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • La Morée franque: Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d’Achaïe (1205-1430) (Open in Zotero)