Skip to Content

Herakleios and Herakleios Constantine (ca. 616–ca. 625)

 
 

Obverse

The Mother of God standing, wearing a chiton and maphorion, and holding Christ, who is framed by an oval mandorla, before her.  Her left hand is held under Christ’s foot, and her right leg is bent at the knee. A large cross potent visible at right. No visible border.

Reverse

Bust of Herakleios at left, and a smaller bust of Herakleios Constantine at right. Each wears a crown with a cross and a chlamys fastened on the right shoulder with a fibula. Herakleios is shown with a beard of medium length and Herakleios Constantine’s face is indistinct. Herakleios wears his hair long at the sides, with the left sidelock combed downward and outward. A small cross in the field above. No legible epigraphy or visible border.

Obverse

The Mother of God standing, wearing a chiton and maphorion, and holding Christ, who is framed by an oval mandorla, before her.  Her left hand is held under Christ’s foot, and her right leg is bent at the knee. A large cross potent visible at right. No visible border.

Reverse

Bust of Herakleios at left, and a smaller bust of Herakleios Constantine at right. Each wears a crown with a cross and a chlamys fastened on the right shoulder with a fibula. Herakleios is shown with a beard of medium length and Herakleios Constantine’s face is indistinct. Herakleios wears his hair long at the sides, with the left sidelock combed downward and outward. A small cross in the field above. No legible epigraphy or visible border.

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1624
Diameter 29.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 6, no. 14.8.

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

Commentary

On the seals dated ca. 616 - ca. 625, Herakleios has a longer beard and Herakleios Constantine’s bust is now somewhat larger than on earlier specimens.  Dating follows the numismatic evidence.

Seibt (Bleisiegel, 69) has employed the following criteria for classifying and dating seals, from ca. 616–ca. 625, with representations of Herakleios and Herakleios Constantine: 1) ca. 616–ca. 625: the imperial hair style changes, as the ends now curl outward; the Virgin’s right foot supports her weight; 2) ca. 620–625: Herakleios’s beard is longer and thicker.

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)
  • Die byzantinischen Bleisiegel in Österreich, Vol. 1, Kaiserhof (Open in Zotero)