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Constantine bishop of Nicaea (seventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform monogram of Κωνσταντίνου; the Ν on the right is effaced. Wreath border.

Κωνσταντίνου

Reverse

Cruciform monogram of ἐπισκόπου; the Ε on the left is lost. In the quarters: ΝΙΚΙ|Σ. Wreath border.

ἐπισκόπου Νικαίας

Obverse

Cruciform monogram of Κωνσταντίνου; the Ν on the right is effaced. Wreath border.

Κωνσταντίνου

Reverse

Cruciform monogram of ἐπισκόπου; the Ε on the left is lost. In the quarters: ΝΙΚΙ|Σ. Wreath border.

ἐπισκόπου Νικαίας

Accession number BZS.1958.106.145
Diameter 30.0 mm; field: 23.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 59.8.
Laurent, Corpus, V/1, no. 390.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 304.

Translation

Κωνσταντίνου ἐπισκόπου Νικαίας.

(Seal of) Constantine bishop of Nicaea.

Commentary

Nicaea of Bithynia was a metropolis, not a simple bishopric, in the seventh century; a bishopric of "Nicaea," suffragan of Adrianoupolis, is listed in Darrouzès, Notitiae, no. 3, line 589 (ninth century). We prefer to follow Laurent and attribute the present specimen to the metropolis of Bithynia, since in the seventh century the title ἐπίσκοπος was used for bishops and metropolitans alike (Laurent, Corpus V/1, p. XXVIII).

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)
  • 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)