Skip to Content

Nikephoros metropolitan (or priest?) of Adrianoupolis (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Saints Peter (left) and Paul standing in profile; St Peter with head raised toward a small bust of Christ in upper field, and holding a long cross while extending left arm toward Christ, a gesture repeated by St Paul, who holds a book. Vertical inscriptions: |Π|Ε|ΤΡ|Ο,|Π|.|.|. : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Πέτρο(ς) / ὁ ἅ(γιος) Π[αῦλ(ος)]. Indeterminate border.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines with decoration above, final letter between two bars. Border of dots.


ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡ,
...ΚΕΜΟΝ
..ΗΝΘΥΤΗΝ
..ΣΑΔΡΙΑΝ
....ΑΠΟΣΤΟ
ΛΟΙΣΣΚΕ
Π

Νικηφόρ(ον) [σὸν] κὲ μον[αστ]ὴν (καὶ) θύτην [τῆ]ς Ἀδριανοῦ [σοῖς] Ἀποστόλοις σκέπ(ε)

Obverse

Saints Peter (left) and Paul standing in profile; St Peter with head raised toward a small bust of Christ in upper field, and holding a long cross while extending left arm toward Christ, a gesture repeated by St Paul, who holds a book. Vertical inscriptions: |Π|Ε|ΤΡ|Ο,|Π|.|.|. : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Πέτρο(ς) / ὁ ἅ(γιος) Π[αῦλ(ος)]. Indeterminate border.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines with decoration above, final letter between two bars. Border of dots.


ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡ,
...ΚΕΜΟΝ
..ΗΝΘΥΤΗΝ
..ΣΑΔΡΙΑΝ
....ΑΠΟΣΤΟ
ΛΟΙΣΣΚΕ
Π

Νικηφόρ(ον) [σὸν] κὲ μον[αστ]ὴν (καὶ) θύτην [τῆ]ς Ἀδριανοῦ [σοῖς] Ἀποστόλοις σκέπ(ε)

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1005
Diameter 26.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 44.11. Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 719. Cf. Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden II, no. 1482.

Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore.

Translation

Νικηφόρον σὸν κὲ μοναστὴν καὶ θύτην τῆς Ἀδριανοῦ σοῖς Ἀποστόλοις σκέπε.

(Christ), with your Apostles watch over Nikephoros, Thy monk and metropolitan of Adrianoupolis.

Commentary

Two twelve-syllable verses.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Les regestes des actes du patriarcat de Constantinople, Vol. 1, Les regestes de 381 à 715 (Open in Zotero)
  • La Thrace Orientale et La Mer Noire: Géographie Ecclésiastique et Prosopographie (VIIIe-XIIe Siècles) (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Synodikon de l’orthodoxie: Édition et commentaire (Open in Zotero)
  • Sigillographie de l’Empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Le kommerkion d’Abydos, Thessalonique et le commerce bulgare du 9e siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Armenian Miniature Paintings of the Monastic Library at San Lazzaro (Open in Zotero)
  • Ioannis Scylitzae Synopsis historiarum (Open in Zotero)
  • Μελέται περὶ τῆς διοικητικῆς διαιρέσεως καὶ τῆς ἐπαρχιακῆς διοικήσεως ἐν τῷ βυζαντινῷ κράτει (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
  • Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 2, Siegellegenden von Ny bis inklusive Sphragis (Open in Zotero)