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Clement bishop of Stroumitza (twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans with medallion of Christ on her breast. Sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΤΟΝ
ΡΟΥΜΙ
.ΗΣΚΛΗ
ΜΕΝΤΑΠΑΡ
ΣΚΕΠΟΙΣ

Τὸν Στρουμίτζης Κλήμεντα, Παρθένε, σκέποις

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans with medallion of Christ on her breast. Sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΤΟΝ
ΡΟΥΜΙ
.ΗΣΚΛΗ
ΜΕΝΤΑΠΑΡ
ΣΚΕΠΟΙΣ

Τὸν Στρουμίτζης Κλήμεντα, Παρθένε, σκέποις

Accession number BZS.1955.1.5042
Diameter 24.0 mm; field: 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 35.2.
Laurent, Corpus V/3, no. 2020.

Translation

Τὸν Στρουμίτζης Κλήμεντα, Παρθένε, σκέποις.

Virgin, may you protect Clement, (the bishop) of Stroumitza.

Commentary

The inscription is in twelve-syllable verse. Laurent hypothesized that the owner of this seal is Clement of Stroumitza, who was a witness to a donation in July 1152.

The original name of this see was Tiberioupolis. A bishop Theoktistos may have been present at the Photian synod of 879/80. The earliest certain mention of the bishopric, a suffragan of Ohrid, is in a charter of 1020. Cf. Laurent, Corpus V/2, 335.

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)