Skip to Content

The Virgin of Adrianoupolis of the monastery of the Latins (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgins orans with the medallion of Christ before her. On either side: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. No visible border.

ΗΘ̅Κ̅Ο̅ΣΑ
ΔΡΙΑΝΠ.
ΛΕΟΣΜΟΝΗ.
ΤΟΝΛΑΤΗ
ΝΟΝ

Ἡ Θεοτόκος Ἀδριανουπόλεος μονῆς τον Λατήον

Obverse

Bust of the Virgins orans with the medallion of Christ before her. On either side: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. No visible border.

ΗΘ̅Κ̅Ο̅ΣΑ
ΔΡΙΑΝΠ.
ΛΕΟΣΜΟΝΗ.
ΤΟΝΛΑΤΗ
ΝΟΝ

Ἡ Θεοτόκος Ἀδριανουπόλεος μονῆς τον Λατήον

Accession number BZS.1955.1.5055
Diameter 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 44.12.
Laurent, Corpus V/2, 458 (see commentary below).

Translation

Ἡ Θεοτόκος Ἀδριανουπόλεος μονῆς τον Λατήον.

The Theotokos of Adrianoupolis of the monastery of the Latins.

Commentary

Another specimen of this seal, in the Seyrig collection, was published by Laurent, Corpus V/2, no. 1559, who then saw a photograph of the present specimen and added a note ibid., p. 458; both specimens are reproduced in the album. Laurent's proposed reading (Ἡ σφραγὶς Ἀδριανοῦ ἱερέως μονῆς τῶν Λατίνων) and date (tenth century) are wrong. Moreover, because the Seyrig piece came from Antioch, Laurent concluded that the monastery was in that city.

There are several cities called Adrianoupolis (see the commentary on DO Seals 1, no. 44.9). We attribute this seal to the metropolis of Thrace because it is near Constantinople (where the DO specimen probably originated); also because it was the better-known Adrianoupolis and more likely to have had a Latin monastery at the time when the Amalfitans still had one on Mount Athos. In fact, in the twelfth century there was a monastery of "Sancta Maria (in) Adrianopoli" (certainly the Thracian one), which was held by the Venetians, had an abbot with the Latin name Hugo, and possessed property in Raidestos: L. Lanfranchi, San Giorgio Maggiore II (Venice, 1968) 533 (October 1157); and Atti della Società Ligure di Storia Patria 28/1 (1896) 402 (before 1174).

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)
  • San Giorgio Maggiore (Open in Zotero)
  • Le kommerkion d’Abydos, Thessalonique et le commerce bulgare du 9e siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Armenian Miniature Paintings of the Monastic Library at San Lazzaro (Open in Zotero)
  • Ioannis Scylitzae Synopsis historiarum (Open in Zotero)
  • Μελέται περὶ τῆς διοικητικῆς διαιρέσεως καὶ τῆς ἐπαρχιακῆς διοικήσεως ἐν τῷ βυζαντινῷ κράτει (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
  • Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Open in Zotero)
  • La Thrace Orientale et La Mer Noire: Géographie Ecclésiastique et Prosopographie (VIIIe-XIIe Siècles) (Open in Zotero)