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Sultan al-Ḥasan ibn Ghafras (Gabras) (twelfth century, second half)

 
 

Obverse

Half-length bearded figure wearing a crown with pendilia, holding a lance in his right hand and an akakia in his left. Border of dots.

Reverse

Arabic inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

السلطان اختيار الدين الحسن بن غفرس

Obverse

Half-length bearded figure wearing a crown with pendilia, holding a lance in his right hand and an akakia in his left. Border of dots.

Reverse

Arabic inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

السلطان اختيار الدين الحسن بن غفرس

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.3735
Diameter 26.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 114.1.

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

Translation

السلطان اختيار الدين الحسن بن غفرس (al-sulān Ikhtiyār al-Dīn al-Ḥasan ibn Ghafras)

The sultan Ikhtiyar al-Din al-Ḥasan ibn Ghafras.

Commentary

For an extensive commentary on this seal by S. Heidemann and C. Sode, as well as discussion of the evidence that seals with Arabic inscriptions provide for correspondence between Constantinople and the eastern parts of the empire, see DO Seals 5, 149–50.

The individual named on this seal must be identified with al-Ḥasan ibn Gabras, the amir and chamberlain in the service of Qilij Arslān (551/1156–599/1192).

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)