Constantine Alopos, magistros, vestes, judge of the Velum of Thrace and Macedonia (eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin orans with medallion of Christ before her (Episkepsis type, according to Seibt, SBS 1 [1987] 54, but which is here called "the reliever of pain"). On either side, the usual sigla, ̅ΘΥ̅. Along the upper border, circular inscription: ΗΛΥΣΙΠΟΝΟΣ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ ἡ Λυσίπονος. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of seven lines. Border of dots.
ΚΕ̅,Θ,
Κ̅ΝΜΑΓΙ
ΣΤΡΕΣΤΗ
ΚΡΙΤ,ΤΗΛ,
ΘΡΑΚ,ΜΑΚΕ
ΔΟΝΙΑΣΤ
ΑΛΠ
Κύριε βοήθει Κωνσταντίνῳ μαγίστρῳ, βέστῃ, κριτῇ τοῦ βήλου Θρᾴκης καὶ Μακεδονίας τῷ Ἀλωπῷ
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin orans with medallion of Christ before her (Episkepsis type, according to Seibt, SBS 1 [1987] 54, but which is here called "the reliever of pain"). On either side, the usual sigla, ̅ΘΥ̅. Along the upper border, circular inscription: ΗΛΥΣΙΠΟΝΟΣ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ ἡ Λυσίπονος. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of seven lines. Border of dots.
ΚΕ̅,Θ,
Κ̅ΝΜΑΓΙ
ΣΤΡΕΣΤΗ
ΚΡΙΤ,ΤΗΛ,
ΘΡΑΚ,ΜΑΚΕ
ΔΟΝΙΑΣΤ
ΑΛΠ
Κύριε βοήθει Κωνσταντίνῳ μαγίστρῳ, βέστῃ, κριτῇ τοῦ βήλου Θρᾴκης καὶ Μακεδονίας τῷ Ἀλωπῷ
| Accession number | BZS.1955.1.2896 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 24.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 1, no. 43.6a. |
Translation
Κύριε βοήθει Κωνσταντίνῳ μαγίστρῳ, βέστῃ, κριτῇ τοῦ βήλου Θρᾴκης καὶ Μακεδονίας τῷ Ἀλωπῷ.
Lord, help Constantine magistros, vestes, judge of the Velum of Thrace and Macedonia.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
- Plombs byzantins de la Grèce et du Péleponnèse (Open in Zotero)
- Sigillographie de l’Empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Κωνσταντῖνος Ἀλωπός, κριτὴς Θρᾴκης καὶ Μακεδονίας (Open in Zotero)
- Die byzantinischen Bleisiegel in Österreich, Vol. 1, Kaiserhof (Open in Zotero)
- Ioannis Scylitzae Synopsis historiarum (Open in Zotero)
- Philippes et la Macédoine orientale à l’époque chrétienne et byzantine; recherches d’histoire et d’archéologie (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
- La Macédoine orientale à l’époque byzantine: à propos d'un livre récent (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
- Theophanes Continuatus, Ioannes Cameniata, Symeon Magister, Georgius Monachus (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
This specimen is identical to BZS.1955.1.2897, but this comes from smaller matrices than the other. Thus we have two different boulloteria that duplicate each other with accuracy.
The Alopos family is discussed by Seibt, Bleisiegel, 302-3. The earliest datable mention is found in the Peira, where a reference to an Ἀλωπὸς πατρίκιος attests the existence of the family in the early eleventh century. It is very probably that this is the same family as the most distinguished tenth-century one of Alypios the patrikios, whose daughter Helen married Emperor Constantine VIII and gave birth to the future nun Eudokia and the future empresses Zoe and Theodora (Skylitzes, 374; Psellos, Chronographie I, 27).