Herakleios and Herakleios Constantine (629–31)
Obverse
The Mother of God standing, wearing a chiton and maphorion, and holding Christ before her. Her left leg is bent at the knee. A small cross potent at shoulder level at left and right. Border of dots.
Reverse
Isocephalic busts of Herakleios at left and Herakleios Constantine at right. Each wears a crown with a cross and a chlamys. Herakleios is shown with a long beard and mustache and Herakleios Constantine with a short beard. Herakleios wears his hair long at the sides; while the left sidelock is combed downward and curls outward, the right seems to curl inward. A cross above and between the two figures. A circular inscription beginning at left. Border of dots.
..NN.EPACLISEEPA..........
[D(omini)] n(ostri) [H]eraclius et Hera(clius) [Const(antinus) p(er)p(etui) aug(usti)].
Obverse
The Mother of God standing, wearing a chiton and maphorion, and holding Christ before her. Her left leg is bent at the knee. A small cross potent at shoulder level at left and right. Border of dots.
Reverse
Isocephalic busts of Herakleios at left and Herakleios Constantine at right. Each wears a crown with a cross and a chlamys. Herakleios is shown with a long beard and mustache and Herakleios Constantine with a short beard. Herakleios wears his hair long at the sides; while the left sidelock is combed downward and curls outward, the right seems to curl inward. A cross above and between the two figures. A circular inscription beginning at left. Border of dots.
..NN.EPACLISEEPA..........
[D(omini)] n(ostri) [H]eraclius et Hera(clius) [Const(antinus) p(er)p(etui) aug(usti)].
Accession number | BZS.1947.2.351 (formerly DO 47.2.351) |
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Diameter | 24.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 6, no. 16.1; Zacos–Veglery, no. 13b (slightly different reading of inscription on obverse). Illustrated and discussed in Morrisson, “Du consul à l’empereur,” 259, table 1, and 264, no. 7. For a similar specimen found at Lamboussa/Kyrenia in Cyprus see Byzantine Seals from Cyprus, no. 3. See also Seibt, Bleisiegel, no. 12. |
Translation
Domini nostri Heraclius et Heraclius Constantinus perpetui augusti.
Our lords Herakleios and Herakleios Constantine, eternal augusti.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 6, Emperors, Patriarchs of Constantinople, Addenda (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- Du consul à l’empereur: les sceaux d’Héraclius (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals from Cyprus (Open in Zotero)
- Die byzantinischen Bleisiegel in Österreich, Vol. 1, Kaiserhof (Open in Zotero)
- Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, Vol. 2, Phocas to Theodosius III (602–717) (Open in Zotero)
- Moneta Imperii Byzantini: Rekonstruktion des Prägeaufbaues auf synoptisch-tabellarischer Grundlage (Open in Zotero)
- Solidi of Phocas and Heraclius: The Chronological Framework (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantinische Bleisiegel in Berlin (West) (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
On gold coins dated by Grierson to the years 629–31 Herakleios is depicted with a long beard and a mustache, while Herakleios Constantine is represented with a short beard and mustache (for example, see: DOC 2.1:26g; MIB 3: Prägetabelle 1, nos. 29–37). Herakleios’s bust with long beard and mustache first appears on dated copper issues of year 20 (629/30) (see Grierson, “Solidi of Phocas and Heraclius,” 143).
On this seal, Herakleios displays a long, full beard, but whether Herakleios Constantine has a moustache is unclear. In Morrisson’s view this type of seal was initiated in late 628 or the beginning of 629. Speck, Bleisiegel, no. 2, has published a specimen which is similar to Zacos–Veglery, no. 13a. On the Berlin specimen it is quite clear that the bust of Herakleios Constantine is taller than that of his father.