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John archbishop of Thessalonica (ninth/tenth century)

 
 

Obverse

The Virgin standing, holding Christ. At left: Μ̅|Θ̅: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. At right, St. Demetrios standing frontally and vertical inscription: Δ|Ι|Μ: ἅγιος Διμήτριος. Along a border of dots, the first part of a circular inscription.

ΘΚΕΟΗΘ,

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΙΑΝ
ΝΗΑΡΧΙΕ
..ΣΚΟΠ
..ΣΣΑΛΟ
ΝΙΚΗΣ

Ἰωάννῃ ἀρχιεπισκόπῳ Θεσσαλονίκης

Obverse

The Virgin standing, holding Christ. At left: Μ̅|Θ̅: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. At right, St. Demetrios standing frontally and vertical inscription: Δ|Ι|Μ: ἅγιος Διμήτριος. Along a border of dots, the first part of a circular inscription.

ΘΚΕΟΗΘ,

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΙΑΝ
ΝΗΑΡΧΙΕ
..ΣΚΟΠ
..ΣΣΑΛΟ
ΝΙΚΗΣ

Ἰωάννῃ ἀρχιεπισκόπῳ Θεσσαλονίκης

Accession number BZS.1958.106.372
Diameter 23.0 mm; field: 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 18.84.
The reading is based off a similar specimen (possibly from the same boulloterion) published in Sig., 106, and again by Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 452.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Ἰωάννῃ ἀρχιεπισκόπῳ Θεσσαλονίκης.

Theotokos, help your servant John archbishop of Thessalonica.

Commentary

Two Johns occupied the throne of Thessalonica around the turn of the tenth century (Gouillard, Synodikon, 114). One John is attested in 892, another (or the same?) in 904 (Spieser, Inscriptions de Thessalonique, 162-63).

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)
  • Sigillographie de l’Empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Synodikon de l’orthodoxie: Édition et commentaire (Open in Zotero)
  • Inventaires en vue d’un recueil des inscriptions historiques de Byzance, I, Inscriptions de Thessalonique (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Silk Trade and Production in Byzantium from the Sixth to the Ninth Century: The Seals of Kommerkiarioi (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)