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Leo bishop of Demetrias (tenth century)

 
 

Obverse

Patriarchal cross (an X at the intersection of the lower bar) with pellets at each end. It stands on three "reversed" steps: the larger on top, the smaller at the bottom) that rest on a globe; tendrils arising from base beyond first crossbar. In upper field, the inscription: ΙΣ̅ΧΣ̅ : Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. Along a border of dots, part of a circular inscription.

...Ο..Τ..ΟΔΟΥΛΟ

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σο δούλο

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

ΛΕΟΝΤΕ
ΠΙΣΚΟΠ
ΔΙΜΗΤΡΙ
ΑΔΟΣ

Λέοντι ἐπισκόπ Διμητριάδος

Obverse

Patriarchal cross (an X at the intersection of the lower bar) with pellets at each end. It stands on three "reversed" steps: the larger on top, the smaller at the bottom) that rest on a globe; tendrils arising from base beyond first crossbar. In upper field, the inscription: ΙΣ̅ΧΣ̅ : Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. Along a border of dots, part of a circular inscription.

...Ο..Τ..ΟΔΟΥΛΟ

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σο δούλο

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

ΛΕΟΝΤΕ
ΠΙΣΚΟΠ
ΔΙΜΗΤΡΙ
ΑΔΟΣ

Λέοντι ἐπισκόπ Διμητριάδος

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.2318
Diameter 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 12.2.
Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 677.

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

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σο δούλο Λέοντι ἐπισκόπῳ Διμητριάδος.

Lord, help your servant Leo, bishop of Demetrias.

Commentary

The modern Demetrias, 2 km to the southwest of and opposite Volos. Important port of the Pagasetikos, attested throughout the Middle Ages, repeatedly sacked by the Arabs and the Bulgarians in the 10th-11th centuries. It had its own administration, an archon, and was the seat of a bishop, suffragan of Larissa, first mentioned in the 5th century.

See Koder-Hild, Hellas, 144-45; Laurent, Corpus V/1, 511; Szemioth-Wasilewski, no. 71; Fedalto, 461-63.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Hellas und Thessalia (Open in Zotero)
  • Sceaux byzantins du Musée National de Varsovie (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)