George (arch?)bishop of Bizye (seventh/eighth century)
Obverse
The Virgin standing frontally, holding Christ. Cruciform monogram composed of Θ, E; Κ below, and Τ and Ο in ligature at top. Cruciform monogram at right consisting of Θ at left, Η at right, Β below and Ο on top. Wreath border.
Θεοτόκε βοήθει
Reverse
In center, large cruciform monogram consisting of Ο in center, Ε at left, Π and Σ in ligature at right, below, and Γ and Ρ in ligature at top. In the quarters ΒΙΖΥ|ΗΣ.
Γεωργίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Βιζύης
Obverse
The Virgin standing frontally, holding Christ. Cruciform monogram composed of Θ, E; Κ below, and Τ and Ο in ligature at top. Cruciform monogram at right consisting of Θ at left, Η at right, Β below and Ο on top. Wreath border.
Θεοτόκε βοήθει
Reverse
In center, large cruciform monogram consisting of Ο in center, Ε at left, Π and Σ in ligature at right, below, and Γ and Ρ in ligature at top. In the quarters ΒΙΖΥ|ΗΣ.
Γεωργίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Βιζύης
| Accession number | BZS.1958.106.5644 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 28.0 mm; field: 20.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 1, no. 74.2. |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει Γεωργίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Βιζύης.
Theotokos, help George bishop of Bizye.
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 Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- La Thrace Orientale et La Mer Noire: Géographie Ecclésiastique et Prosopographie (VIIIe-XIIe Siècles) (Open in Zotero)
- Μελέται περὶ τῆς διοικητικῆς διαιρέσεως καὶ τῆς ἐπαρχιακῆς διοικήσεως ἐν τῷ βυζαντινῷ κράτει (Open in Zotero)
- Sigillographie de l’Empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Βυζαντιακὰ μολυβδόβουλλα τοῦ ἐν ἈΘήναις Ἐθνικοῦ Νομισματικοῦ Μουσείου (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
The name could also be read as Σεργίῳ. Laurent assigned this specimen to the seventh century and Zacos-Veglery to the eighth/ninth. As the epigraphy is relatively archaic, while the general type of the seal is usually associated with the period of the iconoclastic reaction (787-815), we cannot date this specimen with any certainty. In proposing the tentative seventh/eighth century, we are influenced by the fact that an archbishop of Bizye named George attended the sixth ecumenical council of 680/1 and, still in office, was present at the Council of Trullo in 691/2 (Asdracha, Thrace orientale, 278; Laurent, Corpus V/3, no. 1806). But we still note that the owner of this seal claims to be a bishop, not an archbishop, and that his name could as well be Sergios. Consequently several problems remain open.
Bizye (modern Vize in Turkish Thrace) is northeast of Arkadioupolis. The city, a fortress [φρούριον] as described in Skylitzes, 39, line 37, has a long and distinguished history. In the ninth-tenth centuries, Bizye was the residence of a tourmarches, as attested by seals (DO Seals 1, no. 74.1 and Sig., 159 = Konstantopoulos, no. 31) and by the Life of St. Maria the Younger (d. 902): Zakythinos, Mélétai 22 (1952) 169-70. From the ecclesiastical point of view, Bizye was first a suffragan bishopric of Herakleia (5th century) and later, in the seventh century, an autocephalous archbishopric until it was elevated to a metropolis in the fourteenth century. The city, and its see, probably took on increased importance in 679/80, after the loss of Tomis and Odessa and the foundation of the Bulgarian state. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 635 and Asdracha, Thrace orientale, 230-31, 277-79.