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Symeon patrikios, anthypatos, vestes, judge, and kourator of Mytilene (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Two standing figures in profile raising their hands to a bust (likely of Christ) up in the center. The beardless figure wears a richly decorated dress; his bearded counterpart is accompanied by the vertical inscription. .|Υ|Μ|Ε|Ο|Ν: Συμεόν. No border visible.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines preceded by an ornament. Linear border.


ΣΥΜΕ.
Π̅Ρ̅Ι̅⸣ΑΝΘΥ.
ΕΣΤΗΡΙ.
ΚΑΙΚΟΥΡΑ.
ΜΙΤΥΛΗ
ΝΗΣ

Συμεὼν πατρικίῳ, ἀνθυπάτῳ, βέστῃ, κριτῇ καὶ κουράτορι Μιτυλήνης

Obverse

Two standing figures in profile raising their hands to a bust (likely of Christ) up in the center. The beardless figure wears a richly decorated dress; his bearded counterpart is accompanied by the vertical inscription. .|Υ|Μ|Ε|Ο|Ν: Συμεόν. No border visible.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines preceded by an ornament. Linear border.


ΣΥΜΕ.
Π̅Ρ̅Ι̅⸣ΑΝΘΥ.
ΕΣΤΗΡΙ.
ΚΑΙΚΟΥΡΑ.
ΜΙΤΥΛΗ
ΝΗΣ

Συμεὼν πατρικίῳ, ἀνθυπάτῳ, βέστῃ, κριτῇ καὶ κουράτορι Μιτυλήνης

Accession number BZS.1958.106.5099
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 51.5.

Translation

Συμεὼν πατρικίῳ, ἀνθυπάτῳ, βέστῃ, κριτῇ καὶ κουράτορι Μιτυλήνης.

Symeon patrikios, anthypatos, vestes, judge and kourator of Mytilene.

Commentary

We suspect that on the obverse we may have a representation of St. Symeon the archbishop of Persia, together with his fellow martyr, the eunuch and praepositus of the palace Gousthazat (because of the richly decorated dress), adoring the bust of Christ (see Syn. Eccl. CP. 607).

On line 3 of the reverse, the engraver mistakenly inscribed the Η of the word βέστῃ instead of the initial Κ of κριτῇ. It is therefore likely that the titles and offices listed on the reverse were given in the nominative case, rather than the dative, and that the inscription was not preceded by an invocation (Lord, help thy servant) as might have been expected.

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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Alexiade: Règne de l’empereur Alexis I Comnène, 1081–1118 (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • Les îles de l’empire byzantin: VIIIe-XIIe siècles (Open in Zotero)