Theophilos bishop of Basilaion (first half of the eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin holding Christ on her left arm. Sigla: μ̅ρ-.. : Μ(ήτη)ρ [Θ(εο)ῦ]. Traces of a circular inscription, beginning at seven o'clock. Border of dots.
.Rοηθ
[Θ(εοτόκ)ε] βοήθ[ει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ]
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin holding Christ on her left arm. Sigla: μ̅ρ-.. : Μ(ήτη)ρ [Θ(εο)ῦ]. Traces of a circular inscription, beginning at seven o'clock. Border of dots.
.Rοηθ
[Θ(εοτόκ)ε] βοήθ[ει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ]
Reverse
Inscription of four lines, decorations above and below. Border of dots.
θεοφι
.επισ
κοπRα
..λαι
Θεοφί[λ]ῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Βα[σι]λαίου
Accession number | BZS.1955.1.4688 |
---|---|
Diameter | 27.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 4, no. 3.1. |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Θεοφίλῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Βασιλαίου.
Mother of God, help your servant Theophilos, bishop of Basilaion.
Bibliography
- Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio (Open in Zotero)
- Galatien und Lykaonien (Open in Zotero)
- Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
A similar specimen in the Vienna Cabinet, but from a different boulloterion, is published by Lauren, Corpus V/1, no. 345. The Vienna specimen has the same iconography and inscriptions and, as such, probably belonged to the same prelate as did this seal.
Basilaion (located at one km from Sariyar Köprüsü, on the Scopias River in Galatia) was known in Antiquity as Gordiou kome, and from the first century onwards as Ioulioupolis (or Helioupolis). In the conciliar acts of 869 we find the name Ioulioupolis joined with the name Basilaion (Mansi, XVI, 159D), a situation also found in an early Xth-century episcopal list where the see has the double designation: Ἰουλιουπόλεως ἤτοι Βασιλαίου (Darrouzès, Notitiae, no. 7, l, 172). The see was elevated to a metropolis by Constantine X Doukas (1059-1067). See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 244, 617-618; Belke-Restle, Galatien und Lykaonien, 181-82. List of prelates in Fedalto, HEO I, 58-59.