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John metropolitan of Melitene (tenth/eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. John Chrysostom blessing with his right hand and holding a book in his left hand. Inscription in two columns: |ιω|ο-|σο|τ : Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Ἰω(άννης) ὁ Χρ(υ)σό(σ)τ(ομος). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

+.ε
λεθ̅υ
μ̅ρπολι
τμελιτ

νησ

[Ἰ]ω(άννης) ἐλέῳ Θ(εο)ῦ μ(ητ)ροπολίτ(ης) Μελιτ(η)νῆς

Obverse

Bust of St. John Chrysostom blessing with his right hand and holding a book in his left hand. Inscription in two columns: |ιω|ο-|σο|τ : Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Ἰω(άννης) ὁ Χρ(υ)σό(σ)τ(ομος). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

+.ε
λεθ̅υ
μ̅ρπολι
τμελιτ

νησ

[Ἰ]ω(άννης) ἐλέῳ Θ(εο)ῦ μ(ητ)ροπολίτ(ης) Μελιτ(η)νῆς

Accession number BZS.1958.106.336
Diameter 24.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 4, no. 68.8b.

Another specimen is published in Seyrig, no. 258.

Translation

Ἰωάννης ἐλέῳ Θεοῦ μητροπολίτης Μελιτηνῆς.

John, metropolitan of Melitene, by the grace of God.

Commentary

This seal and BZS.1958.106.291 come from the same boulloterion.

John of Melitene was in office from 1027 to 1039 at least and distinguished himself as persecutor of the Jacobites; for these activities he may have been raised to the higher dignity of synkellos, attested by BZS.1958.106.7, which is also by far more luxurious in presentation. See the notes of Laurent, Corpus V/1, 315-316; and of P. Gautier, “Monodies inédites de Michel Psellos,” REB 36 (1978) 84-86.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
  • L’organisation de la frontière orientale de Byzance aux Xe-XIe siècles et Le Taktikon de l’Escorial (Open in Zotero)
  • Kappadokien (Kappadokia, Charsianon, Sebasteia und Lykandos) (Open in Zotero)
  • Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archaeological Survey (Open in Zotero)
  • Crown Lands and the Defence of Imperial Authority in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • Les sceaux byzantins de la Collection Henri Seyrig (Open in Zotero)
  • Monodies inédites de Michel Psellos (Open in Zotero)