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Theodore patriarch of Antioch (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Indistinct bust of St. Theodore with a long beard. No traces of an inscription or border.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

ΕΟΡ
ΠΑΤΡΙΑ.
.ΘΕΟΥΠΟ
ΛΕΣΜΕΓ
Λ.ΑΝΤΙΟ
ΧΕΙΑΣ

[Θ]εοδώρ(ῳ) πατριά[ρχ(ῃ)] Θεουπόλεως Μεγ[ά]λ(ης) Ἀντιοχείας.

Obverse

Indistinct bust of St. Theodore with a long beard. No traces of an inscription or border.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

ΕΟΡ
ΠΑΤΡΙΑ.
.ΘΕΟΥΠΟ
ΛΕΣΜΕΓ
Λ.ΑΝΤΙΟ
ΧΕΙΑΣ

[Θ]εοδώρ(ῳ) πατριά[ρχ(ῃ)] Θεουπόλεως Μεγ[ά]λ(ης) Ἀντιοχείας.

Accession number BZS 1958.106.13
Diameter 32.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 9.14; Laurent, Corpus 5.2, no. 1518.

Translation

Θεοδώρῳ πατριάρχῃ Θεουπόλεως Μεγάλης Ἀντιοχείας.

Theodore patriarch of the Great Theoupolis Antioch.

Commentary

Judging from the epigraphy and the general presentation, we propose that this specimen belonged to Theodore II (3 March 1034–24 September 1042): see Grumel, “Patriarcat,” 138–39.

Laurent reproduces on pl. 186 a specimen from the Athens Collection first published by Schlumberger (with a line drawing) in Revue des études grecques 13 (1900): 473 and republished several times ever since (but not in Sig., 313–14, where the seal published belongs to Theodore IV Balsamon). Laurent mentions similar specimens in the IFEB Collection (no. 743), in the Likhachev collection (now in the Ermitage, cf. Shandrovskaia, “Sfragistika,” no. 823) and in the Paris Cabinet (no. 1186).

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)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Sfragistika (Open in Zotero)