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Nicholas ek prosopou of Crete (eleventh century, second half)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Titos, offering a blessing and holding a book. Vertical inscription:    : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Τ[ῖτος]. No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines followed by decoration. No visible border.

ΦΡΑ
ΚΗΤ
.ΠΡΟΣ
ΤΗΣ
ΡΙΤΗΣ

Σφραγὶς Νικήτα ἐκ προσώπου τῆς Κρίτης

Obverse

Bust of St. Titos, offering a blessing and holding a book. Vertical inscription:    : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Τ[ῖτος]. No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines followed by decoration. No visible border.

ΦΡΑ
ΚΗΤ
.ΠΡΟΣ
ΤΗΣ
ΡΙΤΗΣ

Σφραγὶς Νικήτα ἐκ προσώπου τῆς Κρίτης

Accession number BZS.1958.106.3294
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 36.3.
D. Tsougarakis, REB 48 (1990) 245, no. 4. Cf. SBS 2 (1990) 150, no. 53, and Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden II, no. 2678 (with a different reading).

Translation

Σφραγὶς Νικήτα ἐκ προσώπου τῆς Κρίτης.

Seal of Niketas ek prosopou of Crete.

Commentary

The legend is in dodecasyllabic verse which explains why the article was added before Κρήτης.

Wassiliou-Seibt reconstructs the inscription as σφραγὶς Νικήτα τοῦ προέδρου τῆς Κρήτης.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor (Open in Zotero)
  • Les îles de l’empire byzantin: VIIIe-XIIe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)
  • A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)
  • Ὁ Ταξίαρχης Κρήτης (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Crete, from the 5th Century to the Venetian Conquest (Open in Zotero)
  • Crete in the Conflicts of the Eighth Century (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • The Conquest of Crete by the Arabs (ca. 824): A Turning Point in the Struggle between Byzantium and Islam (Open in Zotero)