Skip to Content

George metropolitan of Athens (1153-May 16, 1160)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding Christ; details indistinct. On either side: ΜΗΡΘΥ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, cross above. Border of dots.


ΣΦΡΑΓΙ.
ΑΘΗΝ͂ΝΠ..
ΜΈΝΟΣΓ.
ΡΓΊΟ

Σφραγὶς Ἀθηνῶν ποιμένος Γεωργίου

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding Christ; details indistinct. On either side: ΜΗΡΘΥ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, cross above. Border of dots.


ΣΦΡΑΓΙ.
ΑΘΗΝ͂ΝΠ..
ΜΈΝΟΣΓ.
ΡΓΊΟ

Σφραγὶς Ἀθηνῶν ποιμένος Γεωργίου

Accession number BZS.1958.106.5113
Diameter 16.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 9.5. See also Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden II, no. 2329b.
Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 603, re-edited (several previous editions) a similar seal from the Vienna cabinet (not from the same boulloterion) but in fact illustrated the DO specimen (pl. 82). The Vienna and DO specimens have the same representation on the obverse and the same alignment of letters (although the lettering is different). The two specimens were issued by the same individual.

Translation

Σφραγὶς Ἀθηνῶν ποιμένος Γεωργίου.

Seal of George metropolitan of Athens.

Commentary

One dodecasyllable verse using the term poimen in place of metropolitan to fit the metre. Since only two metropolitans named George occupied the throne of Athens between the 10th and 12th centuries, we may confidently assign this seal to George Bourtzes, who succeeded by Leo Xeros in 1153 and died on May 16, 1160 (Cheynet-Vannier, 52, no. 31; Orlandos-Branouses, no. 40).

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor (Open in Zotero)
  • A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Études prosopographiques (Open in Zotero)
  • Tὰ χαράγματα τοῦ Παρθενῶς (Open in Zotero)
  • Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
  • Die Tarchaneiotai: Eine prosopographisch-sigillographische Studie (Open in Zotero)
  • Hellas und Thessalia (Open in Zotero)
  • Realities of Byzantine Provincial Government: Hellas and Peloponnesos, 1180-1205 (Open in Zotero)
  • La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, vol. 2, Les églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • Athen in Byzanz: Traum und Realität (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 2, Siegellegenden von Ny bis inklusive Sphragis (Open in Zotero)