Michael (metropolitan) of Neai Patrai (eleventh/twelfth century)
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin orans. Sigla on either side: Μ̅Θ̅ : Μ(ήτηρ) Θ(εοῦ). Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.
ΑΧΡΑΝ
ΤΕΜΙΧΑΗ
ΝΕΝΠΑ
ΤΡΝΣΚΕ
ΠΟΙΣ
Ἄχραντε, Μιχαὴλ Νέων Πατρῶν σκέποις
Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.1057 |
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Diameter | 16.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 2, no. 18.2; Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 760. Cf. Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden I, no. 174. |
Translation
Ἄχραντε, Μιχαὴλ Νέων Πατρῶν σκέποις.
Immaculate One, may you watch over Michael (metropolitan) of Neai Patrai.
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)
- Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
- Μολυβδόβουλλα με γνωστή προέλευση από τις συλλογές του Νομισματικού Μουσείου Αθηνών (Open in Zotero)
- Hellas und Thessalia (Open in Zotero)
- Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
- Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 1, Siegellegenden von Alpha bis inclusive My (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Dodecasyllabic with misplaced caesura, resulting in two six-syllable verses; see E. McGeer, "Discordant verses on Byzantine metrical seals,"SBS 4 (1995), 63-69.
Neai Patrai is today Hypate. Originally (4th and 5th centuries) the bishopric had the name Hypate. But the name changed before the 9th century, as did the rank: the metropolis of Neai Patrai appears probably in a late 9th-century notitia and certainly from the beginning of the 10th onward (Darrouzès, Notitiae, no. 4, line 491 [?], and no. 7, line 685). See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 581; Avramea, 199-201; Koder-Hild, Hellas, 223-24; Fedalto, 467-68.