Skip to Content

Theod(ore/osios/oulos/otos) higoumenos of Karpathos (eighth century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ|ΔΛ. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Wreath border.

.ΕΟΔ
..ΗΓΟΥ
ΜΕΝΟΚΑ
ΡΠΑΘ

Θεοδ..ῳ ἡγουμένο Καρπάθου

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ|ΔΛ. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Wreath border.

.ΕΟΔ
..ΗΓΟΥ
ΜΕΝΟΚΑ
ΡΠΑΘ

Θεοδ..ῳ ἡγουμένο Καρπάθου

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4788
Diameter 27.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 48.1.
Laurent, Corpus V/3, no. 1940 (slightly different reading).
Zacos-Veglery, no. 2429.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Θεοδ..ῳ ἡγουμένο Καρπάθου.

Theotokos, help your servant Theod(ore/osios/oulos/otos) hegoumenos of Karpathos.

Commentary

The name of the higoumenos cannot be restored with certainty, for Theodore, Theodosios, Theodoulos, and Theodotos are all possible.

The island of Karpathos, lying to the northeast of Crete, has been an autocephalous archbishopric throughout the Middle Ages and seems never to have been abandoned. From our seal we learn that the island was the suite of a monastic community. See Laurent, Corpus V/3, 244-45; Fedalto, 207-8; Malamut, Iles, passim., esp. 347, 370.

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. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • Les îles de l’empire byzantin: VIIIe-XIIe siècles (Open in Zotero)