Seal of Hosios Loukas of Steirion (eleventh century, second half)
Obverse
Inscription of three lines. Border of dots.
ΣΦΡΑ
ΓΙΣΟ
ΣΙΟΥ
Σφραγὶς ὁσίου
Reverse
Inscription of three lines, decoration above and below. Border of dots.
ΛΟΥΚΑ
ΟΥΕΙΡΙ
ΩΤΟΥ
Λουκᾶ τοῦ Στειριώτου
Obverse
Inscription of three lines. Border of dots.
ΣΦΡΑ
ΓΙΣΟ
ΣΙΟΥ
Σφραγὶς ὁσίου
Reverse
Inscription of three lines, decoration above and below. Border of dots.
ΛΟΥΚΑ
ΟΥΕΙΡΙ
ΩΤΟΥ
Λουκᾶ τοῦ Στειριώτου
| Accession number | BZS.1955.1.5025 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 19.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 2, no. 20.2. |
Translation
Σφραγὶς ὁσίου Λουκᾶ τοῦ Στειριώτου.
Seal of Hosios Loukas of Steirion.
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)
- Hellas und Thessalia (Open in Zotero)
- The First Century of the Monastery of Hosios Loukas (Open in Zotero)
- Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 2, Siegellegenden von Ny bis inklusive Sphragis (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Today Steiri. The town is attested from the 5th century and became famous with the construction of the monastery of Hosios Loukas in the 10th and 11th centuries, a major religious and healing center. See Koder-Hild, Hellas, 263, and N. Oikonomides, "The First Century of the Monastery of Hosios Loukas," DOP 46 (1992) 245-55. It is not obvious to us whether the non-personalized specimens mentioning Hosios Loukas of Steirion were all used as seals (this seems to be the case of BZS.1947.2.1140) or as amulets carrying the benediction of the monastery (this could be the case on this seal). More such specimens from different boulloteria, are in Laurent, Corpus V/2, no. 1261 (one found in Athens: SBS 2 [1990] 241).