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The protos of (Mount) Ganos (eleventh/twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans with medallion of Christ before her. Inscription: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines preceded and followed by an ornament (the ornament on top is in fact the horizontal dash indicating the abbreviation placed between two pellets). Border of dots.

·  ·
ΜΕ̅Ρ̅ΛΟ
ΓΚΛΕΙΣ
ΤΝΛΟΓΝ
ΠΡΤΟΥ
ΓΑΝΟΥ
 · 

Μ(ῆτ)ερ Λόγου, κλεὶς τῶν λόγων πρώτου Γάνου

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans with medallion of Christ before her. Inscription: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines preceded and followed by an ornament (the ornament on top is in fact the horizontal dash indicating the abbreviation placed between two pellets). Border of dots.

·  ·
ΜΕ̅Ρ̅ΛΟ
ΓΚΛΕΙΣ
ΤΝΛΟΓΝ
ΠΡΤΟΥ
ΓΑΝΟΥ
 · 

Μ(ῆτ)ερ Λόγου, κλεὶς τῶν λόγων πρώτου Γάνου

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.87
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 51.2b. Laurent, Corpus V/2, no. 1229; also V/3, no. 1949. Another specimen is described by Laurent in EO 30 (1931) 480; and another one, from the same boulloterion as the DO specimens, was published by Zacos, Seals II, no. 648.

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

Translation

Μῆτερ Λόγου, κλεὶς τῶν λόγων πρώτου Γάνου.

Mother of the Word, key to the words of the protos of Ganos.

Commentary

This specimen comes from the same boulloterion as BZS.1951.31.5.1523, BZS.1958.106.407.

This is a correct twelve-syllable verse.

Mount Ganos was situated north of the Propontis and is attested from the tenth to the fourteenth century. See Laurent, Corpus V/2, 152. It was composed of several monasteries and, like Mount Athos, was administrated by an (elected?) protos, as is known from as early as the eleventh century.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)