(Seal of the monastery of) St. Symeon (eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of St. Symeon Stylites the Younger orans, sitting on a column. Faint traces of two letters at right: Μ|Ε : [Ὁ (ἅγιος) Συ]με[ών]. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of three lines. Border of dots.
.ΓΣΥ
.ΕΝΙ
.ΥΛΟΓ/
[Ἅ](γιε) Συ[μ]έωνι εὐλόγ(ει)
Obverse
Bust of St. Symeon Stylites the Younger orans, sitting on a column. Faint traces of two letters at right: Μ|Ε : [Ὁ (ἅγιος) Συ]με[ών]. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of three lines. Border of dots.
.ΓΣΥ
.ΕΝΙ
.ΥΛΟΓ/
[Ἅ](γιε) Συ[μ]έωνι εὐλόγ(ει)
| Accession number | BZS 1958.106.406 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 18.0 mm; field: 14.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 5 no. 10.2. |
Translation
Ἅγιε Συμέων εὐλόγει.
St. Symeon, give your blessing.
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)
- Art, Medicine, and Magic in Early Byzantium (Open in Zotero)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Les sceaux byzantins de la Collection Henri Seyrig (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
The monastic complex and shrine of St. Symeon the Younger (d. 592), which included a church and the saint’s pillar, was located atop the “Miraculous Mountain” sixteen kilometers southwest of Antioch (G. Vikan, “Art, Medicine, and Magic in early Byzantium”). It would appear that with the Byzantine recovery of Antioch in 969, the cult of St. Symeon flourished anew.
In addition to the present seal, BZS.1955.1.4946, and Laurent, Corpus 5.2, no. 1559 bis, seals of the "monastery of the Miraculous Mountain" (Laurent, Corpus 5.2, no. 1650 and Seyrig, no. 288), the revival of the saint’s cult and shrine is also apparent from the composition of a paraphrase of the vita of St. Symeon by the governor of Antioch, Nikephoros Ouranos, about the year 1000 (PG 86[2], cols. 2987–3216).