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Christophoros episkeptites of Mesopotamia (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of a bishop-saint, no doubt St. Nicholas, blessing with his right hand and holding a book in his left hand. Remnants of a vertical inscription at right: ο|λ : [Ὁ ἅγιος Νικ]όλ[αος]. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, a decoration below. Border of dots.

ριστ..
.πισε
ιτ,μεσ
οποταμ
– 

[Χ]ριστ[οφ(όρῳ) ἐ]πισκεπτίτ(ῃ) Μεσοποταμ(ίας)

Obverse

Bust of a bishop-saint, no doubt St. Nicholas, blessing with his right hand and holding a book in his left hand. Remnants of a vertical inscription at right: ο|λ : [Ὁ ἅγιος Νικ]όλ[αος]. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, a decoration below. Border of dots.

ριστ..
.πισε
ιτ,μεσ
οποταμ
– 

[Χ]ριστ[οφ(όρῳ) ἐ]πισκεπτίτ(ῃ) Μεσοποταμ(ίας)

Accession number BZS.1958.106.3313
Diameter 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 4, no. 55.1.

Better preserved specimens are published in Zacos, Seals II, no. 398, and Ebersolt, Sceaux, no. 383.

Translation

Χριστοφόρῳ ἐπισκεπτίτῃ Μεσοποταμίας.

Christophoros, episkeptites of Mesopotamia.

Commentary

Another seal of an episkeptites of Mesopotamia is mentioned in the Mordtmann collection (A. Mordtmann, "Plombs byzantins de la Grèce et du Péleponnèse," RA 33 [1877], 297; still unpublished, as far as we know). These seals indicate that part of the land in Mesopotamia was converted into an episkepsis for direct exploitation by the state.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
  • De Thematibus (Open in Zotero)
  • De Administrando Imperio (Open in Zotero)
  • Silk Trade and Production in Byzantium from the Sixth to the Ninth Century: The Seals of Kommerkiarioi (Open in Zotero)
  • Constantini Porphyrogeniti De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae (Open in Zotero)
  • Überlegungen zur Vorgeschichte des Thema Mesopotamien (Open in Zotero)
  • Η Μικρά Ασία των θεμάτων. Ἐρευνες πάνω στην γεωγραφική φυσιογνωμία και προσωπογραφία των βυζαντινών θεμάτων της Μικράς Ασίας (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Molivdovuli na Damjan Dobromirduk na Trakija i Mesopotamija (Open in Zotero)
  • Plombs byzantins de la Grèce et du Péleponnèse (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Sceaux byzantins du musée de Constantinople (Open in Zotero)