Synetos bishop of Helenoupolis (ninth century)
Obverse
Cruciform invocative monogram (type V). In the quarters: ΤΣ|ΔΛ. Wreath border.
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. Double wreath border.
+ΣΥΝ
ετεπι
σκ /ελεν
πολ /
Συνετῷ ἐπισκόπῳ Ἑλενουπόλεως
Obverse
Cruciform invocative monogram (type V). In the quarters: ΤΣ|ΔΛ. Wreath border.
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. Double wreath border.
+ΣΥΝ
ετεπι
σκ /ελεν
πολ /
Συνετῷ ἐπισκόπῳ Ἑλενουπόλεως
| Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.669 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 28.0 mm; field: 24.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 80.1. |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Συνετῷ ἐπισκόπῳ Ἑλενουπόλεως
Mother of God, help your servant Synetos, bishop of Helenoupolis.
Commentary
Helenoupolis (modern Hersek) was located at the entrance to the gulf of Izmit. Its bishops are attested in ca. 400, in 553, and 680, yet the see is absent from the Ekthesis of Pseudo-Epiphanios and first appears in Notitia 2 (eighth century, certainly before the first quarter of the ninth: Darrouzès, Notitiae, 19; 221, line 194) and in all subsequent Notitiae until the thirteenth century (Laurent, Corpus V/1, 278).