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Nikephoros Anzas, symponos (eleventh century, second half)

 
 

Obverse

Mother of God (Hagiosoritissa), full-length, turning right toward the Hand of God, which appears from the heavens. Traces of an inscription: ἡ Ἁγιοσορίτισσα. Indeterminate border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Indeterminate border.

ΑΝΑΝ
ΣκεΠΟΙΣ
ΜΕΣΥΜΠΟ
ΝΟΝΝΙΚΗ
ΦΟΡΟΝ

Ἀνζᾶν [σ]κέποις [μ]ὲ [σ]ύμπο[νο]ν Νικηφόρον

Obverse

Mother of God (Hagiosoritissa), full-length, turning right toward the Hand of God, which appears from the heavens. Traces of an inscription: ἡ Ἁγιοσορίτισσα. Indeterminate border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Indeterminate border.

ΑΝΑΝ
ΣκεΠΟΙΣ
ΜΕΣΥΜΠΟ
ΝΟΝΝΙΚΗ
ΦΟΡΟΝ

Ἀνζᾶν [σ]κέποις [μ]ὲ [σ]ύμπο[νο]ν Νικηφόρον

Accession number BZS.1947.2.1006
Diameter 1.0 mm
Previous Editions

Laurent, Corpus 2: no. 1082; Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden I, no. 113; Nesbitt and Seibt, “Anzas Family,” 195.

Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore.

Translation

Ἀνζᾶν σκέποις μὲ σύμπονον Νικηφόρον.

Watch over me, Nikephoros Anzas, symponos.

Commentary

There are extant at least two types of seals referring to this Nikephoros, both dated to the third quarter of the eleventh century. The first, known from a seal in the Fogg Collection (BZS.1951.31.5.1155) and one in Vienna (Vienna Coin Cabinet, no. 101; A. Mordtmann Collection; Schlumberger, Sigillographie, 156 [“Petrion,” no. 1; cf. p. 618, no. 3] and Wassiliou and Seibt, Österreich 2: no. 76; Laurent, Corpus 2: no. 1081), lists Nikephoros as patrikios, protonotarios of the Petrion, and symponos. The second type likely belongs to the same Nikephoros, though it dates to later in his career, when he has the higher rank of vestes. It is known from a single seal in the Fogg Collection (BZS.1951.31.5.1320). Although the specific way in which the Virgin is represented varies between the two types, this does not bar us from assigning them to the same person. See PBW : Nikephoros 20111.

A more problematic situation arises in the attribution of the present type, a metrical seal dating from the second half of the eleventh century and preserved in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection. On this seal, Nikephoros Anzas appears with the office of symponos, but without a title. We place it here, but note that this could represent a different, somewhat younger person. It is possible that he could be the same as a late-eleventh-century specimen belonging to Nikephoros Anzas, vestes (BZS.1951.31.5.370).



Bibliography

  • Die byzantinischen Bleisiegel in Österreich, Vol. 2, Zentral- und Provinzialverwaltung (Open in Zotero)
  • Sigillographie de l’Empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 1, Siegellegenden von Alpha bis inclusive My (Open in Zotero)
  • The Anzas Family: Members of the Byzantine Civil Administration in the Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Centuries (Open in Zotero)