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Nikephoros bishop of Pyrgion (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Indistinct bust of the Virgin holding her hands open before her. No inscription or border visible.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. No border visible.

+κεR
τσδ
νικηφο
τελαχ
επισκο
πυργι

Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)[θ(ει)] τῷ σῷ δ[ού(λῳ)] Νικηφό[ρῳ] τῷ ἐλαχ[ίσ(τῳ)] ἐπισκό[πῳ] Πυργί[ου]

Obverse

Indistinct bust of the Virgin holding her hands open before her. No inscription or border visible.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. No border visible.

+κεR
τσδ
νικηφο
τελαχ
επισκο
πυργι

Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)[θ(ει)] τῷ σῷ δ[ού(λῳ)] Νικηφό[ρῳ] τῷ ἐλαχ[ίσ(τῳ)] ἐπισκό[πῳ] Πυργί[ου]

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1122
Diameter 25.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 31.2. See also Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 294.

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

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Νικηφόρῳ τῷ ἐλαχίστῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Πυργίου.

Lord, help your servant Nikephoros, most humble bishop of Pyrgion.

Commentary

Pyrgion is the modern Birgi at the foot of the Tmolos. The see was first named Dios Hieron, later (seventh century) Christoupolis, finally Pyrgion, with this name appearing first on seals and only in the late twelfth century in literary sources. Its first known bishop is attested in 451. It was a suffragan of Ephesos, until the late twelfth century, when it was raised to the status of metropolis. Conquered by the Turks in 1307, it became the capital of the emirate of Aydin. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 207-8; Culerrier, Suffragants d'Ephèse, 155 (episcopal list).

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)
  • Les évêchés suffragants d’Ephèse aux 5e-13e siècles (Open in Zotero)