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(The monastery of) the Theotokos Peribleptos (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

The Mother of God standing; she seems to be holding Christ on her left arm. Sigla visible at right: ΘΥ̅ : [Μ(ήτη)ρ] Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of three lines. Wreath border.

ηθκοσ
ηπερι
λεπτο.
  

ἡ Θ(εοτό)κος ἡ Περίβλεπτο[ς]

Obverse

The Mother of God standing; she seems to be holding Christ on her left arm. Sigla visible at right: ΘΥ̅ : [Μ(ήτη)ρ] Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of three lines. Wreath border.

ηθκοσ
ηπερι
λεπτο.
  

ἡ Θ(εοτό)κος ἡ Περίβλεπτο[ς]

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.335
Diameter 23.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 55.1; Laurent, Corpus 5.2: no. 1176.

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

Translation

ἡ Θεοτόκος ἡ Περίβλεπτος.

(Monastery of) the Theotokos Peribleptos.

Commentary

The monastery is a foundation of Emperor Romanos III Argyros (1028–1034) and it was here that he was buried (Skylitzes, 392.10–12). The monastery was a center of resistance against the Bogomils: ODB 2:1629, and Janin, Églises, 218–22. An eleventh-century hegoumenos named Theodore is known from seals (Laurent, Corpus 5.2: nos. 1179 and 1180).

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)
  • Ioannis Scylitzae Synopsis historiarum (Open in Zotero)
  • Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Open in Zotero)
  • La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, Vol. 1, Le siège de Constantinople et le patriarcat oecuménique, Pt. 3, Les églises et les monastères (Open in Zotero)