Eustathios metropolitan of Laodikeia (eighth century)
Obverse
A cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: τ-.|δ-λ. Indeterminate border.
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ [σ]ῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of five lines. Indeterminate border.
+ευσ
τθη
μητροπο
ληˊλδ
ηκησ
Εὐσταθήῳ μητροπολή(τῃ) Λαωδηκήας
Obverse
A cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: τ-.|δ-λ. Indeterminate border.
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ [σ]ῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of five lines. Indeterminate border.
+ευσ
τθη
μητροπο
ληˊλδ
ηκησ
Εὐσταθήῳ μητροπολή(τῃ) Λαωδηκήας
| Accession number | BZS.1947.2.96 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 26.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 21.2. Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 526 (slightly different reading). |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Εὐσταθήῳ μητροπολήτῃ Λαωδηκήας.
Mother of God, help your servant Eustathios, metropolitan of Laodikeia.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin, vol. 5, L’Église
- Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae
- Phrygien und Pisidien
- Studies in Byzantine Sigillography
- Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio
- Die Städte Kleinasiens im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert
Commentary
Laurent is probably correct in identifying the owner of this specimen with Eustathios of Laodikeia, who participated in the Council of 787 (Mansi XII, 994, 1091; XIII, 351).
Laodikeia (near modern Denizli), a center of tax levying (cf. the seal of a dioiketes: Zacos-Veglery, no. 1748) and one of the oldest metropoleis of Asia Minor, appears in all notitiae at the head of the province of Phrygia Pakatiane – a province that underwent a major restructuring during the "Dark Ages." It has to be carefully distinguished from Laodikeia of Syria. See Brandes, Städte, 94-95; Laurent, Corpus V/1, 387l; Darrouzès, Notitiae, 25-27, 77; Phrygien und Pisidien, 323-26. Further seals of metropolitans in SBS 3 (1993) 131-32, 165, 192.