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(The church?) of All-Saints (eleventh century, first half)

 
 

Obverse

Patriarchal cross on steps with fleurons rising from the base beyond the second cross bar. Pellets at left and right of the transverse bars and above the top of the cross. No inscription. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines preceded by decoration. Border of dots.


ΥΑ
ΓΙΥ
ΠΑΝ
ΤΕΣ

Ὑ ἅγιυ πάντες

Obverse

Patriarchal cross on steps with fleurons rising from the base beyond the second cross bar. Pellets at left and right of the transverse bars and above the top of the cross. No inscription. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines preceded by decoration. Border of dots.


ΥΑ
ΓΙΥ
ΠΑΝ
ΤΕΣ

Ὑ ἅγιυ πάντες

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4933
Diameter 16.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 66.1b.

Translation

Ὑ ἅγιυ πάντες

All-Saints

Commentary

Two instances of iotacism on the reverse: line 1: (Οἱ); and line 2: ἅγι(οι).

This specimen may have belonged to the All-Saints church built by Leo VI to honor his first wife Theopano (died 892). See Janin, Églises, 389–90. But one can not rule out that it may have been issued by a metochion of the same name belonging to the Bithynian monastery of Heraklion or to an oratory of All the Saints in the quarter called τὰ Εὐβούλου (ibid., 390). There is also the possibility that this seal belonged to the church of All-Saints on the Bosporos, a sanctuary attached to the monastery built by Patriarch Tarasios. The church was Tarasios's final resting place. See S. Efthymiadis, The Life of Patriarch Tarasios by Ignatios the Deacon (BHG 1698); 159.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 5: The East (continued), Constantinople and Environs, Unknown Locations, Addenda, Uncertain Readings (Open in Zotero)
  • La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, Vol. 1, Le siège de Constantinople et le patriarcat oecuménique, Pt. 3, Les églises et les monastères (Open in Zotero)
  • The Life of the Patriarch Tarasios by Ignatios Deacon (BHG1698): Introduction, Edition, Translation and Commentary (Open in Zotero)