Niketas metropolitan of Athens (tenth century, likely before 926)
| Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.1101 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 26 mm |
| Condition | Corroded (obv.) and broken along the channel (which ran from 2 o'clock to 8 o'clock); almost one-half missing. |
| Previous Editions | Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 591. Laurent reproduces the Fogg specimen on plate 80, but the description of the adornment of the obverse and the restoration of the name on the reverse derive from a similar specimen (found in Nikopolis: SBS 2 [1990] 248) published (without illustration) by Konstantopoulos in JIAN 16 (1914) 32. The Fogg and Athens specimens come, however, from different boulloteria. |
Obverse
Effaced.
Reverse
Inscription of four lines, followed by a row of pellets. Border of dots.
ΚΗ
ΜΗΤΡ
ΠΟΛΙΤ
ΘΗΝ
Νικήτᾳ μητροπολίτῃ Ἀθηνῶν
Translation
Νικήτᾳ μητροπολίτῃ Ἀθηνῶν.
Niketas, metropolitan of Athens.
| Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.1101 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 26 mm |
| Condition | Corroded (obv.) and broken along the channel (which ran from 2 o'clock to 8 o'clock); almost one-half missing. |
| Previous Editions | Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 591. Laurent reproduces the Fogg specimen on plate 80, but the description of the adornment of the obverse and the restoration of the name on the reverse derive from a similar specimen (found in Nikopolis: SBS 2 [1990] 248) published (without illustration) by Konstantopoulos in JIAN 16 (1914) 32. The Fogg and Athens specimens come, however, from different boulloteria. |
Bibliography
- 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
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin, vol. 5, L’Église
- Βυζαντιακὰ μολυβδόβουλλα τοῦ ἐν ἈΘήναις Ἐθνικοῦ Νομισματικοῦ Μουσείου
- Le Synodikon de l’orthodoxie: Édition et commentaire
- Tὰ χαράγματα τοῦ Παρθενῶς
- Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan
- Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae
- Die Tarchaneiotai: Eine prosopographisch-sigillographische Studie
- Hellas und Thessalia
- Realities of Byzantine Provincial Government: Hellas and Peloponnesos, 1180-1205
- La géographie ecclésiastique de l'empire byzantin, vol. 2, Les églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins
- Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium
- Athen in Byzanz: Traum und Realität
Commentary
Line 1 (rev.): the traces of Κ are very clear, allowing us to restore with certainty the metropolitan's name. The owner of our seal seems to have been the Niketas who succeeded Sabas (d. 913; cf. BZS 1955.1.4831 and 1958.106.5012, and Gouillard, Synodikon, 108) and is known to have died in November 926 (Orlandos-Branouses, no. 63).
Laurent ascribed two more seals to this same Niketas (Corpus V/1, nos. 592, 593), but we feel that these ascriptions are not secure, especially since no. 592 seems to belong to a type much older than the early tenth century.