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Timotheos (?) servant of the Theotokos of the property of Kyros (eighth century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: .ΕIΣΤΑ|ΚΥΡΟΥ:  εἰς τὰ Κύρου. Indeterminate border.

Θεοτόκε εἰς τὰ Κὐρου βοήθει

Reverse

Cruciform monogram consisting of Θ, in center; M, at left; E, at right; omega, at bottom; and T (missing its cross bar), at top: Τιμοθέῳ. In quarters: .σ..|κετιαει: τ σοἰκέτι, ἀεί. Indeterminate border.

Τιμοθέῳ τῷ σοἰκέτι, ἀεί

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: .ΕIΣΤΑ|ΚΥΡΟΥ:  εἰς τὰ Κύρου. Indeterminate border.

Θεοτόκε εἰς τὰ Κὐρου βοήθει

Reverse

Cruciform monogram consisting of Θ, in center; M, at left; E, at right; omega, at bottom; and T (missing its cross bar), at top: Τιμοθέῳ. In quarters: .σ..|κετιαει: τ σοἰκέτι, ἀεί. Indeterminate border.

Τιμοθέῳ τῷ σοἰκέτι, ἀεί

Accession number BZS.1955.1.630
Diameter 25.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 45.1.
Zacos–Veglery, no. 2563b.
See also Zacos–Veglery, no. 2563a (similar seal) and Laurent, Corpus 5.2: no. 1157 (ninth century, first half).

Translation

Θεοτόκε ἡ εἰς τὰ Κὐρου βοήθει Τιμοθέτ σῷ οἰκέτι, ἀεί.

Theotokos, patroness of the property of Kyros, help your servant Timotheos, now and evermore.

Commentary

To read the name as Timotheos we must assume that the die engraver mistakenly carved an upright bar and forgot to place a cross bar at the top. But then we could just as well resolve the monogram, for example, as the name Εὐθυμίῳ, reading an upsilon in the letter M.

Laurent reads the reverse: [ἰ]κέτ(ῃ). The wording of the seal suggests that the owner was either a member of a monastic community or a member of a lay confraternity.

A monastery named ta Kyrou, dedicated to the Mother of God, was established at least by the sixth century, when its abbots were subscribers to conciliar documents of 518 and 536. Earlier than that, however, A. Berger (Kalenderhane in Istanbul, I:8–17) observes that a monastery ta Kyrou (Τὰ δὲ Κύρου τὴν Θεοτόκον) was established under the patrikios and eparch Kyros during the reign of Theodosios II (Patria, 152). The fate of the monastery in subsequent centuries, and its relationship to the church of the same name, is unclear. Between the sixth and tenth century, according to Berger, the church (and presumably the monastery) "in the westernmost part of the city ceased to exist, at least under that name, and that another, already extant church in the center of the city was rededicated with the name." This would have been Kalenderhane, based on the presence of two paintings, both depicting the Theotokos Kyriotissa. C. Mango, in is review (BZ 91 [1998]: 587–88), however, expresses the opinion that there existed concurrently in the early Byzantine period two separate establishements: a monastery ta Kyrou, located in a suburban area, and a church ta Kyrou, located in town.

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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Scriptores originum constantinopolitarum (Open in Zotero)
  • Kalenderhane in Istanbul: Final Reports on the Archaeological Exploration and Restoration at Kalenderhane Camii, 1966–1978 (Open in Zotero)