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The abbot of the monastery of Auxentios (eleventh/twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Inscription of five lines preceded by a crosslet. Border of dots.

+|ΑΣΤΥ
ΚΡΑΤΙΣ

ΤΟΝΑΝΑΣ
ΤΑΣΙΣΑ
ΓΙΑ

Ἄστυ κράτιστον, ἀνάστασις ἁγία

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

ΑΥΞΕΝ
ΤΙΜΑΝ
ΔΡΑΣΜΕ
ΠΟΙΜΗΝ

ΟΓΡΑΦ
Ν

Αὐξεντίου μάνδρας με ποιμὴν ὁ γράφων

Obverse

Inscription of five lines preceded by a crosslet. Border of dots.

+|ΑΣΤΥ
ΚΡΑΤΙΣ

ΤΟΝΑΝΑΣ
ΤΑΣΙΣΑ
ΓΙΑ

Ἄστυ κράτιστον, ἀνάστασις ἁγία

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

ΑΥΞΕΝ
ΤΙΜΑΝ
ΔΡΑΣΜΕ
ΠΟΙΜΗΝ

ΟΓΡΑΦ
Ν

Αὐξεντίου μάνδρας με ποιμὴν ὁ γράφων

Accession number BZS.1958.106.5527
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 74.1. Laurent, Corpus V/3, no. 1934. Cf. Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden I, no. 160.

Parallel specimens published in Zacos, Seals II, no. 1037; Seyrig, no. 280.

Translation

Ἄστυ κράτιστον, ἀνάστασις ἁγία. Αὐξεντίου μάνδρας με ποιμὴν ὁ γράφων.

O city most mighty, O Holy Resurrection. The abbot of the monastery of Auxentios is the one who wrote me.

Commentary

The inscription consists of two dodecasyllabic verses. The crosslet at the beginning of the obverse shows where one should start.

The reading given here differs from Laurent's, who read Σ[θέν(ος)] in the first line of the obverse. He also read the word "με" (line 3, rev.) as the preposition "μετά," but it is simply a pronoun.

The monastery of the Holy Resurrection is mentioned for the first time under this name in the twelfth century and was celebrating the synaxis of St. Auxentios (February 14) who was also buried therein (Janin, Eglises, 20). The inscription on this seal would indicate that the community of monks on Mount Auxentios had some affiliation with the monastery of the Holy Resurrection (Anastasis) in the "mighty city" of Constantinople.

Mount Auxentios or Saint Auxentios is located some 12 km to the southeast of Chalcedon. From the eighth century to the thirteenth century it was the site of several monasteries. One was the monastery of Auxentios, a coenobitic establishment of the mid-eighth century which derived its name from a community of hermits originally founded during the reign of Theodosios II by a Syrian ascete of this name (d. 473). The monastery fell victim to Iconoclasm and was destroyed in 760, but there are indications that a coenobitic community may have returned to the mount after 843. See Janin, Grand centres, 44-45; Laurent, Corpus V/3, 238. Cf. also a seal of uncertain reading in Speck, Bleisiegel, no. 104.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Les sceaux byzantins de la Collection Henri Seyrig (Open in Zotero)
  • La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, vol. 2, Les églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Bleisiegel in Berlin (West) (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 1, Siegellegenden von Alpha bis inclusive My (Open in Zotero)