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Leo bishop of Bryelon and synkellos (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God orans, the medallion of Christ before her. Sigla preserved at left:  : Μ(ήτη)ρ [Θ(εο)ῦ]. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

θκ̅εR,θ,
λεοντι
επισκοπ,
Rρυελ
SσυΓεˊ

Θ(εοτό)κε β(οή)θ(ει) Λέοντι ἐπισκόπ(ῳ) Βρυέλου (καὶ) συγ(κ)έ(λλῳ)

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God orans, the medallion of Christ before her. Sigla preserved at left:  : Μ(ήτη)ρ [Θ(εο)ῦ]. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

θκ̅εR,θ,
λεοντι
επισκοπ,
Rρυελ
SσυΓεˊ

Θ(εοτό)κε β(οή)θ(ει) Λέοντι ἐπισκόπ(ῳ) Βρυέλου (καὶ) συγ(κ)έ(λλῳ)

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.936
Diameter 17.0 mm; field: 12.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 10.1. See also Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 282.

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

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Λέοντι ἐπισκόπῳ Βρυέλου καὶ συγκέλλῳ.

Mother of God, help Leo, bishop of Bryelon and synkellos.

Commentary

Bryelon (or Brioula) is usually identified with the ancient town situated near the modern village of Bilara between Nysa and Hierapolis, on the north bank of the Maeander River. The see, a suffragan of Ephesos, is mentioned in all notitiae and seems to have been abandoned in the early thirteenth century. Its first bishop is attested in 431. See Laurent, Corpus, V/1, 197; Culerrier, 155 (episcopal list); Smyrne, 48-50.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Les évêchés suffragants d’Ephèse aux 5e-13e siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • L’histoire et la géographie de la région de Smyrne entre les deux occupations turques (1081-1317), particulièrement au XIIIe siècle (Open in Zotero)