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George (Nikaeus) (eleventh/twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God, three quarters, raising her hands to the left, where the manus dei appears from above. Sigla to both sides: ̄θῡ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription in four lines with decorations above and below. Border of dots.

  
ειης
βοηθος
χε̄σγε
ργι
  

Εἴης βοηθὸς Χριστὲ σῷ Γεωργίῳ

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God, three quarters, raising her hands to the left, where the manus dei appears from above. Sigla to both sides: ̄θῡ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription in four lines with decorations above and below. Border of dots.

  
ειης
βοηθος
χε̄σγε
ργι
  

Εἴης βοηθὸς Χριστὲ σῷ Γεωργίῳ

Accession number BZS.1958.106.1996
Diameter 26.0 mm; field: 18.0 mm
Previous Editions

Wassiliou-Seibt, Corpus, no. 692.
Cf. Laurent, Bulles métriques, no. 118; Schlumberger, Sigillographie, 44 n. 3.

Translation

Εἴης βοηθὸς Χριστὲ σῷ Γεωργίῳ.

Christ, may you be a helper to your George.

Commentary

Dodecasyllable. In his unpublished catalogue of the Shaw Collection, Laurent identifies the parallel of this (BZS.1947.2.1442) to be a seal of George Nikaeus, because of his signature epigram, peculiar to all of his seals, which hold a range of titles, including judge of the Boleron in 1093 (Iverites in Orthodoxia 5 (1930), 618), kouropalates, judge of the velum, and epi ton kriseon in 1112 (Oikonomides, Dated Seals, no. 111), and simply his name, as occurs on this seal and its parallels.

Bibliography

  • A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)
  • Les bulles métriques dans la sigillographie byzantine (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 1, Siegellegenden von Alpha bis inclusive My (Open in Zotero)