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Nikephoros metropolitan of Madyta (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

The Virgin standing, holding medallion of Christ before her. Sigla: Μ̅Θ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. She is flanked by two saints. Left, (no identifying inscription visible, but Zacos identifies the saint), St. Nikephoros; right, St. Euthymios accompanied by vertical inscription: |.|Υ|Θ|Υ|Μ: Ὁ ἅγιος Εὐθύμιος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines, the final three letters flanked by decoration. Border of dots.

ΘΚ̅Ε
ΟΗΘΕΙ
ΙΚΗΦΟΡ
ΤΡΟΠΟΛΙ
ΤΗΜΑΔΥ
.ΤΝ

Θεοτόκε [β]οήθει [Ν]ικηφόρῳ [μ]ητροπολίτῃ Μαδύτων

Obverse

The Virgin standing, holding medallion of Christ before her. Sigla: Μ̅Θ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. She is flanked by two saints. Left, (no identifying inscription visible, but Zacos identifies the saint), St. Nikephoros; right, St. Euthymios accompanied by vertical inscription: |.|Υ|Θ|Υ|Μ: Ὁ ἅγιος Εὐθύμιος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines, the final three letters flanked by decoration. Border of dots.

ΘΚ̅Ε
ΟΗΘΕΙ
ΙΚΗΦΟΡ
ΤΡΟΠΟΛΙ
ΤΗΜΑΔΥ
.ΤΝ

Θεοτόκε [β]οήθει [Ν]ικηφόρῳ [μ]ητροπολίτῃ Μαδύτων

Accession number BZS.1958.106.2
Diameter 31.0 mm; field: 24.0 mm
Previous Editions

Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 727. Laurent compared the DO specimen to one in Istanbul with the same text but a different alignment of letters. A third specimen with the same alignment of letters, but from a different matrices, is published in Zacos, Seals II, no. 635.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Νικηφόρῳ μητροπολίτῃ Μαδύτων.

Theotokos, help Nikephoros metropolitan of Madyta.

Commentary

Based on the Zacos seal, it is possible to determine that the saint standing on the right is not St. Nikephoros, as Laurent thought, but St. Euthymios. On the DO seal the identifying inscription of the saint at left is outside the field; the Zacos seal identifies this saint as St. Nikephoros.

Nikephoros, otherwise unknown, must have been one of the earliest metropolitans of Madyta. See Asdracha, Thrace orientale, 297.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • La Thrace Orientale et La Mer Noire: Géographie Ecclésiastique et Prosopographie (VIIIe-XIIe Siècles) (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)