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Basil metropolitan of Keltzene (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

The Mother of God standing, holding Christ on her right arm. Sigla: ̅-θ̅υ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Circular inscription, beginning at seven o'clock. Border of dots.

+θκεRοηθ,-τσδουλ,

Θ(εοτόκ)ε βοήθ(ει) τῷ σῷ δούλ(ῳ)

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, a decoration above. Border of dots.


.Rασιλ,
..αχιστ
..Ο̅πολιΤ
..ατη
νησ-

Βασιλ(είῳ) [ἐλ]αχίστῳ [μ(ητ)ρ]οπολίτ(ῃ) [Κε]λτζηνῆς

Obverse

The Mother of God standing, holding Christ on her right arm. Sigla: ̅-θ̅υ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Circular inscription, beginning at seven o'clock. Border of dots.

+θκεRοηθ,-τσδουλ,

Θ(εοτόκ)ε βοήθ(ει) τῷ σῷ δούλ(ῳ)

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, a decoration above. Border of dots.


.Rασιλ,
..αχιστ
..Ο̅πολιΤ
..ατη
νησ-

Βασιλ(είῳ) [ἐλ]αχίστῳ [μ(ητ)ρ]οπολίτ(ῃ) [Κε]λτζηνῆς

Accession number BZS.1947.2.51
Diameter 25.0 mm; field: 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 4, no. 66.1. See also Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 812 (listed as Shaw Coll. no. 1131).

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Βασιλείῳ ἐλαχίστῳ μητροπολίτῃ Κελτζηνῆς.

Mother of God, help your servant Basil, most humble metropolitan of Keltzene.

Commentary

As Laurent has noted, Basil of Keltzene is attested in 1071 and 1072.

Keltzene (today Erzincan) was a tourma of the theme of Mesopotamia and encompassed the area north of the Euphrates, bordered on its eastern side by Derzene. As an ecclesiastical province, Keltzene is first listed as a bishopric of Kamacha, but is later listed as a metropolis (combined with Kortzene and Taron) with eight suffragans (Darrouzès, Notitiae, no. 10, l. 702-712; see also Honigmann, Ostgrenze, 198-210), a rank which Keltzene reached in the late Xth or early XIth century and kept until the Seljuk invasions. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 627. See also Sinclair II, 426 ff.

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)
  • Die Ostgrenze des byzantinischen Reiches: von 363 bis 1071 nach griechischen, arabischen, syrischen und armenischen Quellen (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archaeological Survey (Open in Zotero)