Leo bishop of Neapolis (eleventh century)
Obverse
The Virgin seated on a backless throne holding Christ on her lap. On either side the sigla: ΘΥ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Within a border of dots, a circular inscription: +ΗΝΕΑΠ,ΛΙΤΙΣΑ: ἡ Νεαπολίτισα.
Obverse
The Virgin seated on a backless throne holding Christ on her lap. On either side the sigla: ΘΥ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Within a border of dots, a circular inscription: +ΗΝΕΑΠ,ΛΙΤΙΣΑ: ἡ Νεαπολίτισα.
Reverse
Inscription of five lines, a decoration above, the last line between two pellets. Border of dots.
ΣΦΡΑΓ,
ΛΕΟΝΤΟΣ
ΕΠ,ΣΚΟΠ
ΝΕΑΠ.
ΛΕ
Σφραγὶς Λέοντος ἐπισκόπου Νεαπόλεως
Accession number | BZS.1955.1.5067 |
---|---|
Diameter | 23.0 mm; field: 16.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 106.1. |
Translation
Σφραγὶς Λέοντος ἐπισκόπου Νεαπόλεως.
Seal of Leo bishop of Neapolis.
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)
- Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
- Kilikien und Isaurien (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
The Virgin depicted on the obverse clearly reproduces the main icon of the metropolitan church of Neapolis. More the pity that we cannot assign this specimen to a specific see.
Three were two Byzantine bishoprics named Neapolis, one suffragan of Stauroupolis in Karia, the other, situated in Isauria, a suffragan of Seleukeia of Pamphylia. Cf. Darrouzès, Notitiae, no. 1, line 294; no. 3, line 526; no. 13, lines 309, 507. The first has been identified with modern Ineboli, east of the lower Harpasos (RE 16, 2126); the second is sought at the ruins to the east of Günneyyurt, 8 km southwest of Ermenek (F. Hild - H. Hellenkemper, Kilikien und Isaurien [TIB 5] I [Vienna, 1990], 365).