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Theodore archbishop of Selge (?) (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin with hands open in front of her. On either side the sigla: ΜΡ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, bottom line effaced. Border of dots.

..Ε,Θ,
.ΕΟΔΡ,
.ΠΙΣΚ,Π,
ΣΕΛΓ

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Θεοδώρ ἀρχιεπισκόπ Σέλγης (?)

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin with hands open in front of her. On either side the sigla: ΜΡ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, bottom line effaced. Border of dots.

..Ε,Θ,
.ΕΟΔΡ,
.ΠΙΣΚ,Π,
ΣΕΛΓ

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Θεοδώρ ἀρχιεπισκόπ Σέλγης (?)

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4682
Diameter 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 77.2.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Θεοδώρῳ ἀρχιεπισκόπῳ Σέλγης.

Mother of God, help Theodore archbishop of Selge.

Commentary

The letters of the last line are muddled, and their reading is not secure. Also, there is a problem of space in line 3: only one letter is missing at the beginning of the line. Because we can see the remains of a chi suspended above the line, we assume that the ligature Α and Ρ lay beneath it.

Selge (today Zerk/Altınkaya) was a bishopric suffragan of Side since at least the 5th century; in the early 9th century, it was elevated to the rank of archbishopric and is attested as such in all notitiae. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 652 (add Zacos, Seals II, no. 570); Fedalto, 244-45; Brandes, Städte, 128; Zgusta, 551-52.

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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • Die Städte Kleinasiens im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert (Open in Zotero)
  • Kleinasiatische Ortsnamen (Open in Zotero)