Phokas (603–7)
Previous Editions
DO Seals 6 no. 10.1; Zacos–Veglery, no. 8a.
Obverse
The Mother of God standing, wearing a chiton and maphorion, and holding Christ before her. A large cross potent with an elongated vertical shaft at left and right. Wreath border.
Reverse
Bust of Phokas with a pointed beard and shaggy hair, wearing a crown with a cross on top and a chlamys fastened with a fibula on the right shoulder. A circular inscription beginning at left. No visible border.
D(ominus) n(oster) Focas [p]erp(etuus) aug(ustus).
Commentary:
The seals of Phokas are remarkable for being the first attempt to depict distinctive facial features. The details are inspired by the coins (for example, DOC 2.1:5a.1 [pl. 1]; MIB 2: Prägetabelle X). On the obverse of Phokas’s solidus, the emperor is depicted with a pointed beard, and strands of hair, sharply defined, frame the face. He wears a crown with a cross on circlet, and, in coins struck between 603 and 607, pendilia are absent. O often replaces D as the initial letter of the reverse inscription in coins struck between 602 and 607. For a detailed discussion of the criteria that Grierson followed in dating Phokas’s eastern solidi, see his “Solidi of Phocas and Heraclius,” 131–38.
On this and BZS.1951.31.5.1623 the vertical shaft of the cross potent on the obverse is elongated both at bottom and at top. A different situation is found on BZS.1951.31.5.1621 and BZS.1951.31.5.1622.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 6: Emperors, Patriarchs of Constantinople, Addenda
- Byzantine Lead Seals, vol. 1
- Solidi of Phocas and Heraclius: The Chronological Framework
- Moneta Imperii Byzantini, 3 vols.
- Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, vol. 2, Phocas to Theodosius III (602–717)
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