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Manuel Limas, metropolitan of Crete (twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans, with the bust of Christ (blessing) before her. On either side the sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, a cross above. Border of dots.


ΣΦΡΓΙΣ
ΜΑΝΟΥΗΛ
ΠΟΙΜΕΝΟΣ
ΚΡΗΤΗΣ
ΛΙΜ

Σφραγὶς Μανουὴλ ποιμένος Κρήτης Λίμα

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans, with the bust of Christ (blessing) before her. On either side the sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, a cross above. Border of dots.


ΣΦΡΓΙΣ
ΜΑΝΟΥΗΛ
ΠΟΙΜΕΝΟΣ
ΚΡΗΤΗΣ
ΛΙΜ

Σφραγὶς Μανουὴλ ποιμένος Κρήτης Λίμα

Accession number BZS.1958.106.6
Diameter 30.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 36.10.
Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 623 (listed incorrectly as DO 56.106.6).
Cf. SBS 2 (1990) 145, no. 12; see also Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden II, no. 2573.

Translation

Σφραγὶς Μανουὴλ ποιμένος Κρήτης Λίμα.

Seal of Manuel Limas, metropolitan of Crete.

Commentary

Dodecasyllabic. Since, according to the synodikon, two prelates by the name of Manuel sat on the metropolitan throne of Crete some time between the pontificates of John (still alive in 1171) and of Nicholas (who was a contemporary to Alexios III, 1195-1203), one would suppose, together with Laurent, that our seal must have belonged to the second, who saw the need to make the distinction by adding his family name, Limas (a Cretan family: cf. REB 17 [1959] 38).

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)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Les îles de l’empire byzantin: VIIIe-XIIe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)
  • Ὁ Ταξίαρχης Κρήτης (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Crete, from the 5th Century to the Venetian Conquest (Open in Zotero)
  • Crete in the Conflicts of the Eighth Century (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • The Conquest of Crete by the Arabs (ca. 824): A Turning Point in the Struggle between Byzantium and Islam (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 2, Siegellegenden von Ny bis inklusive Sphragis (Open in Zotero)