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Michael archbishop of Kios (twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

St. Michael standing, dressed in imperial garb, and holding a labarum in his right hand and a globus in his left hand. Inscription visible at right side: ΑΡ : [Μιχαήλ] ἀρχ(άγγελος). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of three lines, decoration below. Border of dots.

Μ̅ΗΑρ
επισκ
πκι
– ·

Μηχ(αὴλ) ἀρχ(ι)επισκώπου Κίου

Obverse

St. Michael standing, dressed in imperial garb, and holding a labarum in his right hand and a globus in his left hand. Inscription visible at right side: ΑΡ : [Μιχαήλ] ἀρχ(άγγελος). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of three lines, decoration below. Border of dots.

Μ̅ΗΑρ
επισκ
πκι
– ·

Μηχ(αὴλ) ἀρχ(ι)επισκώπου Κίου

Accession number BZS.1958.106.54
Diameter 30.0 mm; field: 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 50.5.

Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 835.

Translation

Μηχαὴλ ἀρχιεπισκώπου Κίου.

Michael, archbishop of Kios.

Commentary

For some reason Laurent assigned this specimen to the later tenth or early eleventh century, but it undoubtedly dates from the twelfth. We are inclined to assign it to the second half of the century on the basis of the ου ligature occurring twice on line three of the reverse (see Dated Seals, 163) and attribute it to Archbishop Michael who was active in the 1160s and 1170s (references in Laurent, Corpus V/3, 649).

Kios (modern Gemlik) is located in a gulf on the sea of Marmara; it was a place of concentration of agricultural produce. It is attested as a see as early as the Council of Nicaea (325) and is listed as an archbishopric in all notitiae until the fourteenth century. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 648; Zgusta, 266-67.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Kleinasiatische Ortsnamen (Open in Zotero)
  • A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)