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N., (bishop) of Erythra (eleventh/twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

The Virgin seated on a high-backed throne holding the medallion of Christ before her. On either side the sigla: μ̅ρ̅-θ̅υ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Within two concentric circles of dots, a partially preserved circular inscription beginning at the top on the right side:

+θκεRοηθειτωσωδο

Θ(εοτό)κε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δο[ύλῳ ......]

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

ον
τησερυ
θρασμ̅ρ̅ο
παρθενε
σκεποι
-σ-

Τὸν τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς, Μ(ητ)ροπάρθενε, σκέποις

Obverse

The Virgin seated on a high-backed throne holding the medallion of Christ before her. On either side the sigla: μ̅ρ̅-θ̅υ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Within two concentric circles of dots, a partially preserved circular inscription beginning at the top on the right side:

+θκεRοηθειτωσωδο

Θ(εοτό)κε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δο[ύλῳ ......]

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

ον
τησερυ
θρασμ̅ρ̅ο
παρθενε
σκεποι
-σ-

Τὸν τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς, Μ(ητ)ροπάρθενε, σκέποις

Accession number BZS.1958.106.1965
Diameter 23.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 15.1.

Laurent, Corpus V/3, no. 1793 (misread as Κεκρύπας).

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ ... τὸν τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς, Μητροπάρθενε, σκέποις.

Mother of God, help your servant ... . Virgin Mother of God, may you watch over the (bishop) of Erythra.

Commentary

Dodecasyllabic. The circular inscription of the obverse probably recorded the owner's name.

Erythra (modern Ildir, near the peninsula facing Chios) was a local administrative center (cf. the ninth/tenth-century seal of an archon of Erythra: Zacos, Seals II, no. 152), a suffragan bishopric of Ephesos, mentioned in all notitiae from the seventh to the thirteenth centuries. Its first known Byzantine bishop is attested in 431 and the last in 1292. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 209-20; Culerrier, Suffragants d'Ephèse, 156 (episcopal list); Ahrweiler, Smyrne, 54.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Les évêchés suffragants d’Ephèse aux 5e-13e siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • L’histoire et la géographie de la région de Smyrne entre les deux occupations turques (1081-1317), particulièrement au XIIIe siècle (Open in Zotero)