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Sabas metropolitan of Athens (879-December 3, 913)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding a nimbus cruciger encircling the head of Christ. A circular inscription, partially preserved. Border of dots.

Θ.......ΣΔΛˊ

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, preceded and followed by decoration. Border of dots.


σ
μητροπο
λιτηθη
νν

Σάβᾳ μητροπολίτῃ Ἀθηνῶν

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding a nimbus cruciger encircling the head of Christ. A circular inscription, partially preserved. Border of dots.

Θ.......ΣΔΛˊ

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, preceded and followed by decoration. Border of dots.


σ
μητροπο
λιτηθη
νν

Σάβᾳ μητροπολίτῃ Ἀθηνῶν

Accession number BZS.1958.106.5012
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 9.9b.
Cf. Dated Seals, no. 56. Several other similar specimens known from same boulloterion in Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 590 (with references); Zacos, Seals II, no. 883.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Σάβᾳ μητροπολίτῃ Ἀθηνῶν.

Mother of God, help your servant Sabas, metropolitan of Athens.

Commentary

Sabas, newly ordained, was in attendance at the Photian Synod of 879/80. His predecessor had died in May 879 (Orlandos-Branouses, no. 70); he is attested in 894/5. He served some 35 years and died on December 3, 913 (Orlandos-Branouses, no. 75).

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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Tὰ χαράγματα τοῦ Παρθενῶς (Open in Zotero)
  • Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
  • Die Tarchaneiotai: Eine prosopographisch-sigillographische Studie (Open in Zotero)
  • Hellas und Thessalia (Open in Zotero)
  • Realities of Byzantine Provincial Government: Hellas and Peloponnesos, 1180-1205 (Open in Zotero)
  • La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, vol. 2, Les églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • Athen in Byzanz: Traum und Realität (Open in Zotero)