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Theodore episkeptites of Kastoria (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Nicholas offering a blessing and holding the book. Vertical inscription visible at left: |Ν|Ι : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Νι[κόλαος]. Indeterminate border.

Reverse

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


ΘΕΟΔ
Ρ,ΕΠΙΣΚ
ΕΠΤΠΠ
ΚΑΣΤΟ
....

Θεοδώρ(ῳ) ἐπισκεπτίτι (?) Καστο[ρίας]

Obverse

Bust of St. Nicholas offering a blessing and holding the book. Vertical inscription visible at left: |Ν|Ι : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Νι[κόλαος]. Indeterminate border.

Reverse

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


ΘΕΟΔ
Ρ,ΕΠΙΣΚ
ΕΠΤΠΠ
ΚΑΣΤΟ
....

Θεοδώρ(ῳ) ἐπισκεπτίτι (?) Καστο[ρίας]

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1575
Diameter 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 23.2. See also Laurent, Corpus V/2, no. 1500 (with a completely different reading).

Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore.

Translation

Θεοδώρῳ ἐπισκεπτίτι Καστορίας.

Theodore episkeptites of Kastoria.

Commentary

Laurent proposed the reading Θεόδωρος ἐπίσκοπος τῆς πόλεως Καστορίας, even though the first letter of line 3 is an Ε rather than an Ο. Moreover, he recognized that the letters ΤΠΠ (line 3) are problematic; and that strictly speaking they should be read τῶν πόλεων, the repetition of the letter Π signifying a plural. But since this did not make sense, he adopted the solution that the second Π may have been an error of distraction. It must be noted, though, that he had already considered and dismissed the reading ἐπισκεπτίτης. The reading that we propose is based on the assumption that the inexplicable double Π at the end of line 3 is in fact an error due to an engraver who may have misread the letters ΙΤΙ on his original and represented them as two Π's.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Μελέται περὶ τῆς διοικητικῆς διαιρέσεως καὶ τῆς ἐπαρχιακῆς διοικήσεως ἐν τῷ βυζαντινῷ κράτει (Open in Zotero)