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Andronikos II Palaiologos (1282-1328)

 
 

Obverse

Christ standing to front before a low thokos, wearing a tunic and himation and holding the right hand in blessing and a book in the left. He has a nimbus. Sigla at left and right:[Ἰ(ησοῦ)]ς Χ(ριστό)ς. Border of dots.

Reverse

The emperor Andronikos standing, wearing a crown and a loros, an end of which is draped over the left wrist. He holds a labarum in the right hand and an akakia in the left. Manus Dei in the upper right field. Inscription in two columns. Border of dots.

   Α                     
  Δ                    Ο
ΡΟ                     ΠΑ
.ΚΟΣ                    ΛΕ
  ΔΕΣ                  ΟΛΟ
   ΠΟ                    ΓΟ
   ..                     Σ

Ἀνδρόν[ι]κος δεσπό[της] ὁ Παλεολόγος.

Obverse

Christ standing to front before a low thokos, wearing a tunic and himation and holding the right hand in blessing and a book in the left. He has a nimbus. Sigla at left and right:[Ἰ(ησοῦ)]ς Χ(ριστό)ς. Border of dots.

Reverse

The emperor Andronikos standing, wearing a crown and a loros, an end of which is draped over the left wrist. He holds a labarum in the right hand and an akakia in the left. Manus Dei in the upper right field. Inscription in two columns. Border of dots.

   Α                     
  Δ                    Ο
ΡΟ                     ΠΑ
.ΚΟΣ                    ΛΕ
  ΔΕΣ                  ΟΛΟ
   ΠΟ                    ΓΟ
   ..                     Σ

Ἀνδρόν[ι]κος δεσπό[της] ὁ Παλεολόγος.

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1703
Diameter 31.0 mm; field: 27.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 6, no. 106.1; Zacos-Veglery, no. 123b.

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

Translation

Ἀνδρόνικος δεσπότης ὁ Παλεολόγος.

Andronikos Palaiologos, despotes.

Commentary

There are no close matches between Andronikos’s coins and his seals, but on Andronikos’s copper trachea the figure of the emperor is depicted in a manner that, despite variations, somewhat resembles his appearance on his seals. See, for example, DOC 5.2:586 (pl. 34), a coin on which Andronikos is shown standing, holding a labarum in the right hand and a globus cruciger in the left; also DOC 5.2:583 (pl. 34). Here the emperor is shown standing and holding in the right hand a cross scepter and in the lefthand an akakia. In the upper right field appears the manus Dei.

On another type of Andronikos II (Zacos-Veglery, no. 123 bis) the emperor is represented wearing a loros and holding a cross scepter in the right hand and an akakia in the left.

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)