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Joseph monk of the Pantokrator monastery (twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Christ standing on a dais raising his right hand before him in blessing, and holding a book in his left. Sigla: Ι̅ΧΣ̅ : Ἰ(ησοῦ)ς Χ(ριστό)ς. Traces of circular inscription: οπαντκρατρ : Ὁ Παντ(ο)κράτωρ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines preceded by a cross and ending with a pellet. Border of dots.


σκεποισ
ισηφ
πντοκρ
τρ

Σκέποις (μον)αχ(ὸν) Ἰωσήφ, Παντοκράτωρ

Obverse

Christ standing on a dais raising his right hand before him in blessing, and holding a book in his left. Sigla: Ι̅ΧΣ̅ : Ἰ(ησοῦ)ς Χ(ριστό)ς. Traces of circular inscription: οπαντκρατρ : Ὁ Παντ(ο)κράτωρ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines preceded by a cross and ending with a pellet. Border of dots.


σκεποισ
ισηφ
πντοκρ
τρ

Σκέποις (μον)αχ(ὸν) Ἰωσήφ, Παντοκράτωρ

Accession number BZS.1955.1.5001
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 54.1a; Laurent, Corpus 5.3: no. 1907. For a parallel specimen, see Zacos, Seals II, no. 537. The edition of the present specimen has been combined with its better preserved parallel noted below.

Translation

Σκέποις μοναχὸν Ἰωσήφ, Παντοκράτωρ.

Pantokrator, watch over the monk Joseph.

Commentary

Twelve-syllable verse.

Emperor John II Komnenos (1118–1143) founded the monastery of the Pantokrator on a site east of the church of the Holy Apostles. The complex consisted of a male monastery, a hospital, a gerokomeion, and three churches: one dedicated to the Pantokrator, a second to St. Michael, and a third to the Theotokos Ἐλεοῦσα. According to John II's typikon of 1136, the monastery was home to some 80 monks, and was endowed with properties in Thrace, Macedonia, and the Peloponnesos. See ODB 4:1575, and Janin, Églises, 515–23; for the typikon, see Gautier, "Pantokrator," 1–145, and Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents, 2:725–781.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 5: The East (continued), Constantinople and Environs, Unknown Locations, Addenda, Uncertain Readings (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Open in Zotero)
  • La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, Vol. 1, Le siège de Constantinople et le patriarcat oecuménique, Pt. 3, Les églises et les monastères (Open in Zotero)
  • Le typikon du Christ Sauveur Pantocrator (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents: A Complete Translation of the Surviving Founders’ Typika and Testaments (Open in Zotero)