John (man of the archbishop or metropolitan of) Methymna (eleventh century, last quarter)
Obverse
Bust of St. John the Baptist holding a staff with a cross at the end. Part of an inscription visible on left: |Ι̅ : Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Ἰω(άννης). Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of four lines, a decoration below.
σφρ.γ,
σφραγι,
ι̅οτμε
.υμσ
Σφρ[α]γ(ίδι) σφραγίζ(ει) Ἰω(άννης) ὁ τοῦ Με[θ]ύμνης
Obverse
Bust of St. John the Baptist holding a staff with a cross at the end. Part of an inscription visible on left: |Ι̅ : Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Ἰω(άννης). Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of four lines, a decoration below.
σφρ.γ,
σφραγι,
ι̅οτμε
.υμσ
Σφρ[α]γ(ίδι) σφραγίζ(ει) Ἰω(άννης) ὁ τοῦ Με[θ]ύμνης
| Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.1819 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 14.0 mm; field: 10.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 5 no. 104.2. Cf. Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden II, no. 2313. |
| Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Σφραγίδι σφραγίζει Ἰωάννης ὁ τοῦ Μεθύμνης.
John, man of the archbishop (or metropolitan) of Methymna, seals (his letters) with this seal.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 5: The East (continued), Constantinople and Environs, Unknown Locations, Addenda, Uncertain Readings (Open in Zotero)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 2, Siegellegenden von Ny bis inklusive Sphragis (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Fifteen-syllable verse.
The see of Methymna (Μήθυμνα/Μέθυμνα) was located on the island of Lesbos. It was an archbishopric until the later decades of the eleventh century, when it was raised, somewhere around 1080, to the rank of a metropolis. Cf. Laurent, Corpus 5.1: 622–23.