Skip to Content

Nikephoros or Niketas bishop of Tiberias (tenth century)

 
 

Obverse

Patriarchal cross (X at crossbars) mounted on three steps, with fleurons rising up to the first arm. Pellet in the upper right quarter. Within a double border of dots, a circular inscription beginning at 7 o’clock:

ΚΕ......ΣΟΥΛ

Κ(ύρι)ε β[οήθει τ]ῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

ΝΙΚΗ
...ΕΠΗΣ
.ΟΠΤΙ
ΕΡΙ

Νικη... ἐπησ[κ]όπ(ῳ) Τιβερι[άδ(ος)]

Obverse

Patriarchal cross (X at crossbars) mounted on three steps, with fleurons rising up to the first arm. Pellet in the upper right quarter. Within a double border of dots, a circular inscription beginning at 7 o’clock:

ΚΕ......ΣΟΥΛ

Κ(ύρι)ε β[οήθει τ]ῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

ΝΙΚΗ
...ΕΠΗΣ
.ΟΠΤΙ
ΕΡΙ

Νικη... ἐπησ[κ]όπ(ῳ) Τιβερι[άδ(ος)]

Accession number BZS 1951.31.5.1735
Diameter 17.0 mm; field: 14.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 17.1; Laurent, Corpus 5.2: no. 1572.

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

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Νικηφόρῳ or Νικήτᾳ ἐπησκόπῳ Τιβεριάδος.

Lord help your servant, Nikephoros or Niketas, bishop of Tiberias.

Commentary

Located on the western bank of Lake Tiberias in Palestine, Tiberias is first attested as a bishopric in the fifth century: Laurent, Corpus 5.2:403; list of bishops in Fedalto, HEO 2:1038.

Laurent believed that the reading of Nikephoros was preferable to Niketas. The letters required would have filled the vacant space at the beginning of line two on the reverse, and since the prelate was a bishop, there was no need to allow a space for the abbreviated reading (ἀρχι)επισκόπῳ.

DO Seals 5 dated this to the eleventh century, but we would note as well that the obverse design, with cross on steps and tendrils rising from the base, generally dates to the mid- or late-tenth century. W. Seibt, in his review of DO Seals 5, prefers a tenth-century dating, and suggests that this might be the bishop of Tiberioupolis rather than Tiberias.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 5: The East (continued), Constantinople and Environs, Unknown Locations, Addenda, Uncertain Readings (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)