Gregory bishop of Attaleia (eleventh century)
Obverse
Indistinct bust of the Virgin holding the medallion of Christ before her. Remains of sigla: Θ̅Υ̅: [Μ(ήτη)ρ] Θ(εο)ῦ. Along the circumference illegible traces of a circular inscription. No border visible.
[Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ]
Obverse
Indistinct bust of the Virgin holding the medallion of Christ before her. Remains of sigla: Θ̅Υ̅: [Μ(ήτη)ρ] Θ(εο)ῦ. Along the circumference illegible traces of a circular inscription. No border visible.
[Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ]
Reverse
Inscription of five line lines. No border visible.
+ΓΡΗ
ΓΟΡΙΟΕ
ΠΙΣΚΟΠ
ΑΤΑΛΙ
ΑΣ+
Γρηγορίο ἐπισκόπῳ Ἀταλίας
Accession number | BZS.1947.2.49 |
---|---|
Diameter | 17.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 101.1. |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Γρηγορίο ἐπισκόπῳ Ἀταλίας.
Mother of God, help your servant Gregory, bishop of Attaleia.
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)
- Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Open in Zotero)
- Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
- Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Two bishoprics named Attaleia are mentioned in the notitiae episcopatuum: Attaleia of Pamphylia (modern Antalia), suffragan of Perge/Syllaion, which became a metropolis in 1084; and Attaleia of Lydia (the identification with modern Adala, proposed in DHGE 5 [1931] 148, seems doubtful), a suffragan of Sardeis, which remained a bishopric until the end of the Byzantine empire. Cf. Darrouzès, Notitiae, passim, especially no. 10, lines 118, 410; no. 13, lines 116, 790, 807. Cf. DOSeals 2.64; Laurent, Corpus V/1, 683.
The present specimen predates the promotion of the Pamphylian Attaleia to the rank of metropolis. It is therefore impossible to attribute it with certainty to one of the two sees.