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John bishop of Rhodopolis (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God orans with a medallion of Christ before her. Sigla: μ̅-θ̅ : Μ(ήτηρ) Θ(εοῦ). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

+θ̅κ̅εR
Rοηθ,Ι̅
επισκοπ,
ροδπ,

Θ(εοτό)κε {β} βοήθ(ει) Ἰω(άννῃ) ἐπισκόπ(ῳ) Ῥοδωπ(όλεως)

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God orans with a medallion of Christ before her. Sigla: μ̅-θ̅ : Μ(ήτηρ) Θ(εοῦ). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

+θ̅κ̅εR
Rοηθ,Ι̅
επισκοπ,
ροδπ,

Θ(εοτό)κε {β} βοήθ(ει) Ἰω(άννῃ) ἐπισκόπ(ῳ) Ῥοδωπ(όλεως)

Accession number BZS.1947.2.144
Diameter 12.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 4, no. 38.1. Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 669 (tenth/eleventh century); listed as Coll. Shaw, no. 1148.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Ἰωάννῃ ἐπισκόπῳ Ῥοδωπόλεως.

Mother of God, help John, bishop of Rhodopolis.

Commentary

This is the sole bishop listed for Rhodopolis in Fedalto, HEO I, 404.

Rhodopolis (today Vartzike, Vardistzikhe) was a suffragan bishopric of the metropolis of Phasis (in Lazica). It disappears from the Constantinopolitan notitiae episcopatuum after the eighth century, more or less at the same time as the metropolis of Phasis (Darrouzès, Notitiae, no. 4, l. 435). The existence of the specimen published below, which cannot be attributed to Rodope, as Laurent rightly pointed out, may attest a short-lived revival of the bishopric. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 503.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (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)