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John monk and metropolitan of Nikomedeia (ninth century)

 
 

Obverse

The Virgin standing, holding the Child in her right arm. Within a border of dots, a circular inscription beginning at seven o'clock:

+ΘΕΟΤΟΚΕΟΗΤΣΔΟΥΛ

Θεοτόκε βοή[θ(ει)] τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, a row of pellets above and below. Border of dots.


+ΙΑΝ
ΝΗΜΟΝΑΧ
ΜΗΤΡΟΠΝΙ
ΚΟΜΗΔ

Ἰωάννῃ μοναχ(ῷ) (καὶ) μητροπ(ολίτῃ) Νικομηδ(είας)

Obverse

The Virgin standing, holding the Child in her right arm. Within a border of dots, a circular inscription beginning at seven o'clock:

+ΘΕΟΤΟΚΕΟΗΤΣΔΟΥΛ

Θεοτόκε βοή[θ(ει)] τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, a row of pellets above and below. Border of dots.


+ΙΑΝ
ΝΗΜΟΝΑΧ
ΜΗΤΡΟΠΝΙ
ΚΟΜΗΔ

Ἰωάννῃ μοναχ(ῷ) (καὶ) μητροπ(ολίτῃ) Νικομηδ(είας)

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.14
Diameter 33.0 mm; field: 26.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 83.7; Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 376.

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

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Ἰωάννῃ μοναχῷ καὶ μητροπολίτῃ Νικομηδείας.

Mother of God, help your servant John monk and metropolitan of Nikomedeia.

Commentary

As Laurent observed, the decoration on the obverse resembles the one found on patriarchal seals of the ninth century (in particular, the seals of Methodios, Photios, Stephanos, etc.: Zacos, Seals II, nos. 5, 7,a, 8: cf. Dated Seals, nos. 50, 54). On the other hand, the inscription on the reverse echoes the one on the seal of patriarch Ignatios so closely that one might wonder if their matrices were carved by the same craftsman (Zacos, Seals II, no. 6; cf. Dated Seals, no. 51). Laurent was right in attributing this seal to John of Nikomedeia, a partisan of Ignatios, to whom Photios (858-867, 877-886) addressed a severe letter, most probably during his first patriarchate, and in any case before 879, when the metropolitan of Nikomedeia was named George.

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 (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)
  • Le livre du préfet; ou, L’édit de l’empereur Léon le Sage sur les corporations de Constantinople (Open in Zotero)
  • Die Städte Kleinasiens im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert (Open in Zotero)