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Theopemptos bishop of Lakedaimonia (tenth/eleventh century)

 
 
title

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding her hands before her, palms outward. Sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Within a border of dots, part of a circular inscription visible:

ΤΣΔ

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

title

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΘΕΟ
ΠΕΜΠΤΟ
ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠˊ
ΛΑΚ....
ΜΟΝΙΑ,

Θεοπέμπτο ἐπισκόπῳ Λακεδαιμονίας

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding her hands before her, palms outward. Sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Within a border of dots, part of a circular inscription visible:

ΤΣΔ

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΘΕΟ
ΠΕΜΠΤΟ
ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠˊ
ΛΑΚ....
ΜΟΝΙΑ,

Θεοπέμπτο ἐπισκόπῳ Λακεδαιμονίας

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4687
Diameter 18.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 29.3.
Cf. parallel specimen published from the Athens Collection by Laurent Corpus V/1, no. 640 = Schlumberger, Mélanges, 203-4, no. 9 (illustrated) = Konstantopoulos, no. 85.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Θεοπέμπτο ἐπισκόπῳ Λακεδαιμονίας.

Mother of God, help your servant Theopemptos, bishop of Lakedaimonia.

Commentary

The name Theopemptos is found (no. 11) in the synodikon. He is attested in 998 (Life of Saint Nikon, 116, cf. 285-86).

Lakedaimonia (modern Sparta) was functioning as a bishopric by the middle of the 5th century; it became the suffragan first in order of Patras sometime between 802 and 806 and exercised authority in Arcadia. It was established as a metropolis in 1082/83. We have the list of the bishops (synodikon) of Lakedaimonia from the mid-9th to the late 12th centuries, published and discussed by R. J. H. Jenkins and C. Mango (DOP 15 [1961] 235-42) and by V. Laurent (REB 19 [1961] 208-26); cf. Gouillard, Synodikon, 112-13, 277-78.

See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 478, 624; Fedaalto, 505-7; Philippidis-Braat, no. 42; ODB II, 1169-70.

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)
  • The Life of Saint Nikon: Text, Translation, and Commentary (Open in Zotero)
  • Mélanges d’archéologie byzantine (Open in Zotero)
  • Βυζαντιακὰ μολυβδόβουλλα τοῦ ἐν ἈΘήναις Ἐθνικοῦ Νομισματικοῦ Μουσείου (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Synodikon de l’orthodoxie: Édition et commentaire (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • Inventaires en vue d’un recueil des in- scriptions historiques de Byzance. III. Inscriptions du Péloponnèse (à l’exception de Mistra) (Open in Zotero)