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Constantine Phylax (twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God orans with a medallion of Christ on her breast. At left and right: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines preceded by a cross. Border of dots.


ΛΟΓΣ
ΦΥΛΑΤΤ
ΦΥΛΑΚΟΣ
Κ̅Ν̅

λόγους φυλάττω Φύλακος Κων(σταντίνου)

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God orans with a medallion of Christ on her breast. At left and right: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines preceded by a cross. Border of dots.


ΛΟΓΣ
ΦΥΛΑΤΤ
ΦΥΛΑΚΟΣ
Κ̅Ν̅

λόγους φυλάττω Φύλακος Κων(σταντίνου)

Accession number BZS.1958.106.2880
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 27.5b; Laurent, Corpus 2: no. 671; cf. Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden I, no. 1333.

Translation

λόγους φυλάττω Φύλακος Κωνσταντίνου.

I guard the words of Constantine Phylax.

Commentary

A twelve-syllable metrical seal. It seems unclear whether we are involved with an official who was responsible for a treasury and whose official title was "phylax" or a personal whose family name was Phylax. For seals bearing the title of phylax, see Zacos, Seals II, nos. 474, 756, and 805. The latest datable mention of the treasury is found in a chrysobull of Alexios Komnenos (1086): ἐπὶ τοῦ θείου ἡμῶν ταμείου τοῦ φύλακος (Lavra, 259.51). Our seal seems to be of too late a date to be mentioning the treasury of the Phylax and its supervisor.

W. Seibt, however, in his review of DO Seals 5 (BZ 100 [2007]: 234), suggests that this seal should be redated to the second half of the eleventh/early twelfth centuries, and that this permits "phylax" to be read as an office. On the other hand, Wassiliou-Seibt notes that Phylax is attested as a family in the second half of the eleventh century. The rendering of the inscription as a metrical verse is another sign that Phylax should be read as a family name rather than an office.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 5: The East (continued), Constantinople and Environs, Unknown Locations, Addenda, Uncertain Readings (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Actes de Lavra, Vol. 1, Des origines à 1204 (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 1, Siegellegenden von Alpha bis inclusive My (Open in Zotero)