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Niketas bishop of Triaditza (eleventh/twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

St. George standing, holding spear, his left hand resting on shield set on ground. Inscription in two columns: .Γ|Ε|ΓΙ|ΟΣ: ἅγιος Γεώργιος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. No visible border.

·
ΤΟΝΤΡΙΑ
ΔΙΤΗΣΝΙ
ΚΗΤΑΝΜΑΡ
ΤΥΣΣΚΕ
ΠΟΙΣ·

τὸν Τριαδίτζης Νικήταν, Μάρτυς, σκέποις

Obverse

St. George standing, holding spear, his left hand resting on shield set on ground. Inscription in two columns: .Γ|Ε|ΓΙ|ΟΣ: ἅγιος Γεώργιος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. No visible border.

·
ΤΟΝΤΡΙΑ
ΔΙΤΗΣΝΙ
ΚΗΤΑΝΜΑΡ
ΤΥΣΣΚΕ
ΠΟΙΣ·

τὸν Τριαδίτζης Νικήταν, Μάρτυς, σκέποις

Accession number BZS.1955.1.5044
Diameter 18.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 70.2a.
Laurent, Corpus V/2, no. 1504, where he republishes (after RN [1914] 450) a similar seal found in Ascalon, and kept at the Musée des Pères Blancs in Jerusalem. Another specimen from the same boulloterion is published by Zacos, Seals II, no. 661.

Translation

Τὸν Τριαδίτζης Νικήταν, Μάρτυς, σκέποις.

Martyr, may you protect Niketas, (bishop) of Triaditza.

Commentary

This specimen is an exact copy of its parallel, but from a different boulloterion of the same owner. The inscription is a twelve syllable verse.

Modern Sofia; ancient Serdica, Σαρδική. The city was customarily referred to its Slavic name from the tenth century on; its bishopric, first attested in 1020, was subordinate to the archbishopric of Ohrid. Cf. Laurent, Corpus V/2, 331-32 and Darrouzès, Notitiae, no. 13, line 837.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)