Peter bishop of Olenos (ninth/tenth century)
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin holding the medallion of Christ before her. No sigla visible. Within a border of dots the remains of a circular inscription.
ΘΕΟΤΟΚ..ΤΣΔ/
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.
ΠΕ
ΤΡΕΠΙ
ΣΚΟΠ
ΛΕΝ
Πέτρῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Ωλένου
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin holding the medallion of Christ before her. No sigla visible. Within a border of dots the remains of a circular inscription.
ΘΕΟΤΟΚ..ΤΣΔ/
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.
ΠΕ
ΤΡΕΠΙ
ΣΚΟΠ
ΛΕΝ
Πέτρῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Ωλένου
| Accession number | BZS.1947.2.120 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 20.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 2, no. 33.1. |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Πέτρῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Ωλένου.
Theotokos, help your servant Peter bishop of Olenos.
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
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin, vol. 5, L’Église
- Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae
- Le Peloponnese Byzantin Jusqu'en 1204
- La Morée franque. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d'Achaïe (1205-1430)
- Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium
Commentary
Olenos is a placename going back to Homeric times, today Ὠλένη, to the northeast of Pyrgos in Elis. The see, a suffragan of Patras, is first mentioned in a notitia of the early 10th century (Darrouzès, Notitiae, no. 7, line 553) under the name Βολαίνης (but the old name, without the initial Β, survived as well, cf. e.g., Studi Italiani di Filologia Classica 1 [1893] 167). In the 13th century the bishop moved to Andravida, then to Kaminitsa. See Bon, Péloponnèse, 107 and n. 3; Laurent, Corpus V/1, 491-92; Bon, Morée franque, 344-46; A. Basilikopoulou-Ioannidou. "Ἡ ἐπισκοπὴ Ὠλένης/Βολαίνης κατὰ τὴν Βυζαντινὴν περίοδον," Πρακτικὰ τοῦ Α′ Συνεδρίου Ἠλειακῶν Σπουδῶν [Πελοποννησιακά, Παράρτημα 7] (Athens, 1980), 250-60; Fedalto, 516.