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Michael (bishop) of Bonditza (twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

The Virgin seated on a high-backed throne holding Christ before her. On either side the sigla: ΘΥ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

ΤΟΝ
ΟΝΔΙ
ΤΗΣΠΑΝΑ
ΓΝΕΜΙΧΑ
ΗΛΣΚΕ
ΠΟΙ

Τὸν Βονδίτζης, Πάναγνε, Μιχαὴλ σκέποις

Obverse

The Virgin seated on a high-backed throne holding Christ before her. On either side the sigla: ΘΥ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

ΤΟΝ
ΟΝΔΙ
ΤΗΣΠΑΝΑ
ΓΝΕΜΙΧΑ
ΗΛΣΚΕ
ΠΟΙ

Τὸν Βονδίτζης, Πάναγνε, Μιχαὴλ σκέποις

Accession number BZS.1958.106.32
Diameter 28.0 mm; field: 24.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 4.1.
Laurent, Corpus V/1,, no. 682; Laurent also notes a similar seal in the IFEB Collection (no. 83).

Translation

Τὸν Βονδίτζης, Πάναγνε, Μιχαὴλ σκέποις.

Holy One, may you watch over Michael (bishop) of Bonditza.

Commentary

Dodecasyllable verse. One may wonder whether the Virgin of the obverse is not a copy of the icon of the Virgin in the episcopal (?) church of Bonditza; see B. Katsaros, "Προβλήματα βυζαντινῆς στὴ Δυτικὴ Στερεὰ (12ος-13ος αἰ.)," Byzantina 13/2 (1985) 1518-19.

Modern Bonitza (toponym of Slavic origin) situated on the southern coast of the gulf of Ambrakia. The see, attested since the early 10th century (Darrouzès, Notitiae, no. 7, line 576), always occupied the first rank among the suffragans of Naupaktos. Cf. Laurent, Corpus V/1, 515, and Soustal, Nikopolis und Kephallenia, 128-29.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
  • Nikopolis und Kephallenia (Open in Zotero)