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Romanos pastor of Thessaly (= metropolitan of Thessalonike) (twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Demetrios holding spear and shield. Inscription: Ο|ΔΗ|ΜΗΤ|ΡΙ|ΟΣ: Ὁ ἅγιος Δημήτριος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

ΣΚΕΠΟΙΣ
ΡΜΑΝΟΝ
ΠΟΙΜΕΝΑΘΕ
ΤΤΑΛΙΑΣ

Σκέποις Ῥωμανὸν ποιμένα Θετταλίας

Obverse

Bust of St. Demetrios holding spear and shield. Inscription: Ο|ΔΗ|ΜΗΤ|ΡΙ|ΟΣ: Ὁ ἅγιος Δημήτριος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

ΣΚΕΠΟΙΣ
ΡΜΑΝΟΝ
ΠΟΙΜΕΝΑΘΕ
ΤΤΑΛΙΑΣ

Σκέποις Ῥωμανὸν ποιμένα Θετταλίας

Accession number BZS.1958.106.455
Diameter 25.0 mm; field: 24.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 18.88a. See also Laurent, Corpus V/3, no. 1728; Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden II, no. 2193.

Translation

Σκέποις Ῥωμανὸν ποιμένα Θετταλίας.

May you protect Romanos, pastor of Thessaly.

Commentary

The inscription forms a twelve-syllable verse. Laurent assigned this seal to the same metropolitan Romanos as DO Seals 1, no. 18.87; but it is clear that the present specimen belongs to the twelfth century (as shown by the epigraphy) and should be ascribed to the Romanos who appears to have been elevated to the throne of Thessalonica in the mid- or late 1140s, continued into the early 1150s (cf. Gouillard, Synodikon, 114.11), and was succeeded by Basil before 1154 (see DO Seals 1, no. 18.80).

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Synodikon de l’orthodoxie: Édition et commentaire (Open in Zotero)
  • Silk Trade and Production in Byzantium from the Sixth to the Ninth Century: The Seals of Kommerkiarioi (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Bleisiegel in Berlin (West) (Open in Zotero)
  • Le kommerkion d’Abydos, Thessalonique et le commerce bulgare du 9e siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Recherches sur les douanes à Byzance: L’octava, le "kommerkion" et les commerciares (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de Saint Démétrius et la pénétration des Slaves dans les Balkans (Open in Zotero)
  • L’éparque de Thessalonique: les origines d'une institution administrative (VIIIe-IXe siècles) (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 2, Siegellegenden von Ny bis inklusive Sphragis (Open in Zotero)