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John proedros (= metropolitan) of Corfou (eleventh/twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Saints Peter and Paul standing; details indistinct. On one side the inscription: :; Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Πέτρος. On the right side: |ΠΑ: ὁ ἅ(γιος) Παῦλος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΣΦΡΑ
ΓΙΣΠΡΟ
ΕΔΡΚΕ.
ΚΥΡΝ
ΙΩ

Σφραγὶς προέδρου Κερκύρων Ἰω(άννου)

Obverse

Saints Peter and Paul standing; details indistinct. On one side the inscription: :; Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Πέτρος. On the right side: |ΠΑ: ὁ ἅ(γιος) Παῦλος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΣΦΡΑ
ΓΙΣΠΡΟ
ΕΔΡΚΕ.
ΚΥΡΝ
ΙΩ

Σφραγὶς προέδρου Κερκύρων Ἰω(άννου)

Accession number BZS.1955.1.5031
Diameter 23.0 mm; field: 19.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 5.4.
Laurent, Corpus V/3, no. 1794. Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 866, published a similar seal from the Vienna Collection, but illustrated the DO specimen. See also Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden II, no. 2759.

Translation

Σφραγὶς προέδρου Κερκύρων Ἰωάννου.

Seal of John, metropolitan of Corfou.

Commentary

Dodecasyllabic. Laurent published two separate specimens that probably came from the same boulloterion: the present one (no. 1794) which he dated to the late 12th century, and another from Vienna (no. 866), which he dated to the early 11th. We feel that the present specimen dates from the late 11th/early 12th century, for which reason we assume that John's official title must have been that of metropolitan.

Bibliography