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George (Nikaeus) (eleventh/twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God, three quarters, raising her hands to the left, where the manus dei appears from above. Sigla to both sides: ̄θῡ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription in four lines with decoration below. Border of dots.

ειης
βοηθος
χε̄σγε
ργι
  

εἴης βοηθός, Χ(ριστ)έ, σῷ Γεωργίῳ

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God, three quarters, raising her hands to the left, where the manus dei appears from above. Sigla to both sides: ̄θῡ: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription in four lines with decoration below. Border of dots.

ειης
βοηθος
χε̄σγε
ργι
  

εἴης βοηθός, Χ(ριστ)έ, σῷ Γεωργίῳ

Accession number BZS.1947.2.1442
Diameter 19.0 mm
Previous Editions

Cf. Wassiliou-Seibt, Corpus, no. 692; Laurent, Bulles métriques, no. 118; Schlumberger, Sigillographie, 44 n. 3.

Translation

εἴης βοηθός, Χριστέ, σῷ Γεωργίῳ.

Christ, may you be the aid to your servant George.

Commentary

Dodecasyllable. In his unpublished catalogue of the Shaw Collection, Laurent identifies this to be a seal of George Nikaeus, because of his signature epigram, peculiar to all of his seals, which hold a range of titles, including judge of the Boleron in 1093 (Iverites in Orthodoxia 5 (1930), 618), kouropalates, judge of the velum, and epi ton kriseon in 1112 (Oikonomides, Dated Seals, no. 111), and simply his name, as occurs on this seal and its parallels.

Bibliography

  • Les bulles métriques dans la sigillographie byzantine (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 1, Siegellegenden von Alpha bis inclusive My (Open in Zotero)
  • A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)