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Maurice Tiberios (582–602)

 
 

Obverse

The Mother of God standing, wearing a chiton and maphorion, and holding Christ before her. A large cross potent with an elongated vertical shaft at left and right. No visible border.

Reverse

Bust of Maurice Tiberios wearing a crown with a cross on top, a circular decoration in front, pendilia, and a chlamys. A circular inscription beginning at left. No visible border.

DNMA...TIPPAV.

D(ominus) n(oster) Ma[ur(i)c(ius)] Tib(erius) p(er)p(etuus) au[g(ustus)].

Obverse

The Mother of God standing, wearing a chiton and maphorion, and holding Christ before her. A large cross potent with an elongated vertical shaft at left and right. No visible border.

Reverse

Bust of Maurice Tiberios wearing a crown with a cross on top, a circular decoration in front, pendilia, and a chlamys. A circular inscription beginning at left. No visible border.

DNMA...TIPPAV.

D(ominus) n(oster) Ma[ur(i)c(ius)] Tib(erius) p(er)p(etuus) au[g(ustus)].

Accession number BZS.1958.106.496
Diameter 23.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 6, no. 9.4.

Translation

Dominus noster Mauricius Tiberius perpetuus augustus.

Our lord Maurice Tiberios, eternal augustus.

Commentary

Maurice Tiberios’s seals continue the divergence from the design of coins noted first in the reign of Tiberios Constantine, with the Mother of God on the former and Winged Victory on the latter.  Among both seals and coins are preserved examples in which the emperor’s name is read “Mauricius Tiberius” and “Tiberius Mauricius.”

On Maurice Tiberios’s seals the vertical shaft of the cross potent appearing on the obverse is elongated only at the bottom. The situation varies among seals of his successor, Phokas (see commentary at BZS.1951.31.5.7).

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 6, Emperors, Patriarchs of Constantinople, Addenda (Open in Zotero)