N. metropolitan of Euchaita and protosynkellos (eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of St. Theodore holding a martyr's cross before him. Inscription in two columns: |θε|ο-δ|ρ|ο, : Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Θεόδωρο(ς). Circular inscription, beginning at ten o'clock. Border of pellets.
μαρτυσθυτηνσον
Μάρτυς θύτην σόν
Reverse
Inscription of five lines, decorations above and below. Border of pellets.
– –
τονευ
χαιτν
πρωτοσυγ
κελλον
σκεπε
– –
τὸν Εὐχαΐτων πρωτοσύγκελλον σκέπε
Obverse
Bust of St. Theodore holding a martyr's cross before him. Inscription in two columns: |θε|ο-δ|ρ|ο, : Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Θεόδωρο(ς). Circular inscription, beginning at ten o'clock. Border of pellets.
μαρτυσθυτηνσον
Μάρτυς θύτην σόν
Reverse
Inscription of five lines, decorations above and below. Border of pellets.
– –
τονευ
χαιτν
πρωτοσυγ
κελλον
σκεπε
– –
τὸν Εὐχαΐτων πρωτοσύγκελλον σκέπε
| Accession number | BZS.1955.1.5039 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 29.0 mm; field: 22.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 4, no. 16.9a. See also Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden I, no. 1370. Laurent, Corpus V/3, no. 1783. Cf. Zacos, Seals II, no. 842, for a parallel specimen. |
Translation
Μάρτυς θύτην σὸν τὸν Εὐχαΐτων πρωτοσύγκελλον σκέπε.
Martyr, watch over your servant the metropolitan of Euchaita and protosynkellos.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
- The Anonymous Seal (Open in Zotero)
- Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
- Le dédoublement de Saint Théodore et les villes d’Euchaïta et d’Euchaneia (Open in Zotero)
- Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Open in Zotero)
- Η Μικρά Ασία των θεμάτων. Ἐρευνες πάνω στην γεωγραφική φυσιογνωμία και προσωπογραφία των βυζαντινών θεμάτων της Μικράς Ασίας (Open in Zotero)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
- Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 1, Siegellegenden von Alpha bis inclusive My (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
This seal and BZS.1955.1.5040 bear the same iconography and epigraphy and seem to come from the same boulloterion, perhaps after some retooling.
The reverse contains a complete twelve-syllable verse that identifies the metropolitan of Euchaita as a protosynkellos, evidently so well known that he felt no need to inscribe his first name. But on the obverse we also have half a verse linked to what follows on the reverse (Μάρτυς θύτην σὸν τὸν Εὐχαΐτων σκέπε). The reverse of this seal must have been changed when the owner received the title of protosynkellos some time in the second half of the eleventh century. See N. Oikonomides, "The Anonymous Seal," SBS 4 (1995) 76.