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Basil thytes (metropolitan) of the Thessalians (twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

St. Basil standing, holding book. Inscription in two columns: ||ΣΙΛ|ΕΙ|ΟΣ: Ὁ ἅγιος Βασίλειος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, cross above. Border of dots.


ΟΜΝΥ
ΜΟΝΣΟΙ
ΘΕΤΤΑΛΝ
ΘΥΤΗΝ
ΣΚΕΠΕ

Ὁμώνυμόν σοι Θετταλῶν θύτην σκέπε.

Obverse

St. Basil standing, holding book. Inscription in two columns: ||ΣΙΛ|ΕΙ|ΟΣ: Ὁ ἅγιος Βασίλειος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, cross above. Border of dots.


ΟΜΝΥ
ΜΟΝΣΟΙ
ΘΕΤΤΑΛΝ
ΘΥΤΗΝ
ΣΚΕΠΕ

Ὁμώνυμόν σοι Θετταλῶν θύτην σκέπε.

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4992
Diameter 24.0 mm; field: 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 18.80. See also Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden II, no. 1622.
A similar seal, likely from the same boulloterion, is published in Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 461.

Translation

Ὁμώνυμόν σοι Θετταλῶν θύτην σκέπε.

Protect the metropolitan of the Thessalians who shares your name.

Commentary

The inscription is a single twelve-syllable verse. This individual is known from correspondence with Pope Adrian IV (1154-57). He was a canonist who participated in theological discussions in 1154, and attended a patriarchal synod of 1157 (references collected by Laurent, Corpus V/1, 335-36).

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)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Bleisiegel in Berlin (West) (Open in Zotero)
  • Le kommerkion d’Abydos, Thessalonique et le commerce bulgare du 9e siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Recherches sur les douanes à Byzance: L’octava, le "kommerkion" et les commerciares (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de Saint Démétrius et la pénétration des Slaves dans les Balkans (Open in Zotero)
  • L’éparque de Thessalonique: les origines d'une institution administrative (VIIIe-IXe siècles) (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 2, Siegellegenden von Ny bis inklusive Sphragis (Open in Zotero)