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Pothos poimen (= metropolitan) of Mytilene (twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans, the medallion of Christ before her. On either side the sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΠΟΘ
ΣΦΡΓΙΣ
ΜΜΙΤΥΛΗ
ΣΠΟΙΜΕ
ΝΟΣ

Πόθου σφράγισμα Μιτυλήνης ποιμένος

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans, the medallion of Christ before her. On either side the sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΠΟΘ
ΣΦΡΓΙΣ
ΜΜΙΤΥΛΗ
ΣΠΟΙΜΕ
ΝΟΣ

Πόθου σφράγισμα Μιτυλήνης ποιμένος

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4996
Diameter 22.0 mm; field: 18.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 51.10; Laurent, Corpus V/3, no. 1781; Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden II, no. 1803.
Cf. a parallel specimen published in Zacos, Seals II, no. 679.

Translation

Πόθου σφράγισμα Μιτυλήνης ποιμένος.

Seal of Pothos poimen of Mytilene.

Commentary

Dodecasyllabic. As Laurent observes, the owner of our specimen may have been the metropolitan Pothos (Aplesphares) who is attested in 1166, 1170 and 1171.

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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Alexiade: Règne de l’empereur Alexis I Comnène, 1081–1118 (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)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 2, Siegellegenden von Ny bis inklusive Sphragis (Open in Zotero)