Leo bishop of Demetrias (tenth century)
Obverse
Patriarchal cross (an X at the intersection of the lower bar) with pellets at each end. It stands on three "reversed" steps: the larger on top, the smaller at the bottom) that rest on a globe; tendrils arising from base beyond first crossbar. In upper field, the inscription: ΙΣ̅ΧΣ̅ : Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. Along a border of dots, part of a circular inscription.
...Ο..Τ..ΟΔΟΥΛΟ
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σο δούλο
Obverse
Patriarchal cross (an X at the intersection of the lower bar) with pellets at each end. It stands on three "reversed" steps: the larger on top, the smaller at the bottom) that rest on a globe; tendrils arising from base beyond first crossbar. In upper field, the inscription: ΙΣ̅ΧΣ̅ : Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. Along a border of dots, part of a circular inscription.
...Ο..Τ..ΟΔΟΥΛΟ
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σο δούλο
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.
ΛΕΟΝΤΕ
ΠΙΣΚΟΠ
ΔΙΜΗΤΡΙ
ΑΔΟΣ
Λέοντι ἐπισκόπῳ Διμητριάδος
Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.2318 |
---|---|
Diameter | 20.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 2, no. 12.2. |
Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σο δούλο Λέοντι ἐπισκόπῳ Διμητριάδος.
Lord, help your servant Leo, bishop of Demetrias.
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)
- Hellas und Thessalia (Open in Zotero)
- Sceaux byzantins du Musée National de Varsovie (Open in Zotero)
- Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
The modern Demetrias, 2 km to the southwest of and opposite Volos. Important port of the Pagasetikos, attested throughout the Middle Ages, repeatedly sacked by the Arabs and the Bulgarians in the 10th-11th centuries. It had its own administration, an archon, and was the seat of a bishop, suffragan of Larissa, first mentioned in the 5th century.
See Koder-Hild, Hellas, 144-45; Laurent, Corpus V/1, 511; Szemioth-Wasilewski, no. 71; Fedalto, 461-63.