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(The monastery? of) the Theotokos Panagiotissa (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God holding a medallion of Christ. At left and right: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Indeterminate border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, the final letter between two horizontal bars. Indeterminate border.

τ..
Υπεραγ.
ασθ̅κ̅τ
παναγι


Τ[ῆς] Ὑπεραγ[ί]ας Θ(εοτό)κου τ(ῶν) Παναγίου

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God holding a medallion of Christ. At left and right: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Indeterminate border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, the final letter between two horizontal bars. Indeterminate border.

τ..
Υπεραγ.
ασθ̅κ̅τ
παναγι


Τ[ῆς] Ὑπεραγ[ί]ας Θ(εοτό)κου τ(ῶν) Παναγίου

Accession number BZS.1958.106.223
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 52.1; Laurent, Corpus 5.2: no. 1170 (with misreading).

Translation

Τῆς Ὑπεραγίας Θεοτόκου τῶν Παναγίου.

(Seal of the monastery of) the most holy Theotokos Panagiotissa.

Commentary

Fifteen-syllable verse. The reading of the final line is based on comparison with a similar (but not parallel) specimen published in Zacos, Seals II, no. 766.

Laurent suggests that originally the Theotokos Panagiotissa was a monastery of men. This seal and similar specimens establish that a structure of this name was in existence in the eleventh century. It was located on the side of a hill below the Phanar quarter. See Laurent, Corpus 5.2: 95, and Janin, Églises, 214.

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)
  • 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)