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Theodore bishop of Methone (tenth/eleventh century)

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Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.3025
Diameter 21 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 30.2c.
Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 1747. Parallel specimens in Athens (Konstantopoulos, nos. 92, 93) and British Museum (Sig., 186), cf. Birch, no. 17814, where the seal is erroneously assigned to a komes of Methone; on the other hand, Schlumberger mentions two more specimens in his own collection, bur their fate is not known); one in the IFEB Collection (Paris); and two in the Vienna Collection.

Obverse

Bust of St. John the Theologian blessing and holding book. Inscription in two columns: |ΙΩ|ΟΘ|ΕΟ|Λ,: Ὁ ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Θεολόγος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, preceded and followed by decoration. Border of dots.


ΚΕ,Θ,
ΘΕΟΔΡ,
.Π,ΚΟΠ
ΜΕΘ,

Κύριε βοήθει Θεοδώρῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Μεθώνης

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει Θεοδώρῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Μεθώνης.

Lord, help Theodore bishop of Methone.

Commentary

Today Methone, in the southwestern tip of the Peloponnesos. The ancient city is still attested in the 6th century; the bishopric may have already existed in the 4th century, but it appears in the early 9th as a suffragan of the newly created metropolis of Patras. It is mentioned in the controversial iconoclastic notitia (as a suffragan of Corinth) and then in all notitiae, starting with that of Leo VI, under Patras (Darrouzès, Notitiae, no. 3, line 762; no. 7, line 551). See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 482; Fedalto, 510; ODB II, 1356. The cathedral of Methone being dedicated to St. John the Theologian (NE 7 [1910] 156-57), this saint appears on most seals of its bishops.

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.3025
Diameter 21 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 30.2c.
Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 1747. Parallel specimens in Athens (Konstantopoulos, nos. 92, 93) and British Museum (Sig., 186), cf. Birch, no. 17814, where the seal is erroneously assigned to a komes of Methone; on the other hand, Schlumberger mentions two more specimens in his own collection, bur their fate is not known); one in the IFEB Collection (Paris); and two in the Vienna Collection.

Bibliography

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.3025
Diameter 21 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 30.2c.
Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 1747. Parallel specimens in Athens (Konstantopoulos, nos. 92, 93) and British Museum (Sig., 186), cf. Birch, no. 17814, where the seal is erroneously assigned to a komes of Methone; on the other hand, Schlumberger mentions two more specimens in his own collection, bur their fate is not known); one in the IFEB Collection (Paris); and two in the Vienna Collection.

Parallels