The proedros (= bishop) of Bonditza (eleventh century)
Obverse
Inscription of three lines, cross above. Border of dots.
ΘΚΕ
ΟΗ
ΘΕΙ
Θεοτόκε βοήθει
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.
Α
ΕΔΡΩ
ΟΝΔΙ
ΤΗΣ
προέδρῳ Βονδίτζης
Obverse
Inscription of three lines, cross above. Border of dots.
ΘΚΕ
ΟΗ
ΘΕΙ
Θεοτόκε βοήθει
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.
Α
ΕΔΡΩ
ΟΝΔΙ
ΤΗΣ
προέδρῳ Βονδίτζης
| Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.2454 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 16.0 mm; field: 12.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 2, no. 4.2. |
| Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει προέδρῳ Βονδίτζης.
Mother of God, help the bishop of Bonditza.
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)
- Nikopolis und Kephallenia (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
The seal is anonymous. There is no space at the bottom of the obverse or the top of the reverse for a name, no matter how short, to have been engraved.
Modern Bonitza (toponym of Slavic origin) situated on the southern coast of the gulf of Ambrakia. The see, attested since the early 10th century (Darrouzès, Notitiae, no. 7, line 576), always occupied the first rank among the suffragans of Naupaktos. Cf. Laurent, Corpus V/1, 515, and Soustal, Nikopolis und Kephallenia, 128-29.