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Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118)

 
 

Obverse

Christ seated on a high-back throne. The upper portion is decorated at left and right with pellets set within serpentine columns. He wears a tunic and himation and holds the right hand in blessing and in the left a book. His feet rest on a dais. He has a nimbus cruciger; each arm contains a decoration consisting of one pellet. Sigla at left and right: Ἰ(ησοῦ)ς Χ(ριστό)ς. Border of dots.

Reverse

The emperor Alexios I bearded standing to front on a dais, wearing a crown and a loros, one end of which is draped over his left. wrist and decorated with six dots. He holds in the right hand a labarum and in the left a globus cruciger. Circular inscription, beginning at 7:30. Border of dots.

αλειωδποττωκομν,

Ἀλεξίῳ δ(εσ)πότ(ῃ) τῷ Κομνην(ῷ).

Obverse

Christ seated on a high-back throne. The upper portion is decorated at left and right with pellets set within serpentine columns. He wears a tunic and himation and holds the right hand in blessing and in the left a book. His feet rest on a dais. He has a nimbus cruciger; each arm contains a decoration consisting of one pellet. Sigla at left and right: Ἰ(ησοῦ)ς Χ(ριστό)ς. Border of dots.

Reverse

The emperor Alexios I bearded standing to front on a dais, wearing a crown and a loros, one end of which is draped over his left. wrist and decorated with six dots. He holds in the right hand a labarum and in the left a globus cruciger. Circular inscription, beginning at 7:30. Border of dots.

αλειωδποττωκομν,

Ἀλεξίῳ δ(εσ)πότ(ῃ) τῷ Κομνην(ῷ).

Accession number BZS.1958.106.611 (formerly DO 58.106.611)
Diameter 31.0 mm; field: 28.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 6, no. 88.4; Zacos–Veglery no. 102b; For a similar specimen from a different boulloterion; see Jordanov, "Melnitsa" 24, no. 2.

Translation

Ἀλεξίῳ δεσπότῃ τῷ Κομνηνῷ.

Alexios Komnenos, despot.

Commentary

The emperor's name seems to involve a ligature of N and H. The emperor's face is much longer and fuller than on BZS.1958.106.518.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 6, Emperors, Patriarchs of Constantinople, Addenda (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Seals from the Village of Melnitsa (District of Elkhovo, Bulgaria) (Open in Zotero)