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Dometios metropolitan of Chalcedon (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Indistinct bust of a female saint (no doubt Euphemia), her head covered by a veil and holding a martyr's cross. No inscription or border visible.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. No border visible.

ΔΟΜ
ΙΜ̅Ρ̅Ο̅
ΠΟ ΧΑΛΚΗ
ΔΟΝΟΣ

Δομετίῳ μητροπολίτῃ Χαλκηδόνος

Obverse

Indistinct bust of a female saint (no doubt Euphemia), her head covered by a veil and holding a martyr's cross. No inscription or border visible.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. No border visible.

ΔΟΜ
ΙΜ̅Ρ̅Ο̅
ΠΟ ΧΑΛΚΗ
ΔΟΝΟΣ

Δομετίῳ μητροπολίτῃ Χαλκηδόνος

Accession number BZS.1958.106.35
Diameter 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 77.1.

Translation

Δομετίῳ μητροπολίτῃ Χαλκηδόνος.

Dometios metropolitan of Chalcedon.

Commentary

In his edition Laurent proposed that Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) preceded the inscription, but this is unlikely owing to the lack of space. The restitution of the rare name Dometios is uncertain but no other possibilities leap out.

Chalcedon, modern Kadiköy, located on the Asiatic coast opposite Constantinople, was established as a metropolis in 451 by Emperor Marcian. It was unusual in that at no time did it have suffragans. Despite the presence of a hippodrome, a palace, and numerous churches and monasteries, nearly all traces of its Byzantine past have disappeared (Janin, Grand centres, 31-35, 423-26; Laurent, Corpus V/1, 289; ODB I, 403). The most famous of its sanctuaries was the church of St. Euphemia (martyred in 303), a fourth-century foundation (destroyed by the Persians) which served as the site of the Council of 451. Euphemia is the saint usually depicted on the seals of the metropolitans of Chalcedon; (see F. Halkin, Euphémie de Chalcédoine, Brussels, 1965).

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)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, vol. 2, Les églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins (Open in Zotero)