Skip to Content

Michael VII Doukas (1071–1078)

 
 

Obverse

Christ seated on a square-backed throne. The upper part of the throne is decorated at left and right with seven pellets. He is shown wearing a tunic and himation and blessing with the right hand and holding a book in the left. The cover of the book is decorated in the center with a large pellet. He has a nimbus cruciger; each arm is decorated with one pellet. Sigla at left and right: (ησοῦ)ς Χ(ριστό)ς. Border of dots.

Reverse

Michael VII standing on a dais and wearing a crown with a cross and a loros, an end of which is draped over the left wrist and ornamented with four dots. He holds a labarum in the right hand and a globus cruciger in the left. Circular inscription presumably beginning with a cross. Border of dots.

.ΜΙΧΑΗλΑΥΤ,ΚΡ,Τ,ΡΜ,ΟΔΚ,

Μιχαὴλ αὐτ(ο)κρ(ά)τ(ωρ) Ῥωμ(αίων) Δούκ(ας)

Obverse

Christ seated on a square-backed throne. The upper part of the throne is decorated at left and right with seven pellets. He is shown wearing a tunic and himation and blessing with the right hand and holding a book in the left. The cover of the book is decorated in the center with a large pellet. He has a nimbus cruciger; each arm is decorated with one pellet. Sigla at left and right: (ησοῦ)ς Χ(ριστό)ς. Border of dots.

Reverse

Michael VII standing on a dais and wearing a crown with a cross and a loros, an end of which is draped over the left wrist and ornamented with four dots. He holds a labarum in the right hand and a globus cruciger in the left. Circular inscription presumably beginning with a cross. Border of dots.

.ΜΙΧΑΗλΑΥΤ,ΚΡ,Τ,ΡΜ,ΟΔΚ,

Μιχαὴλ αὐτ(ο)κρ(ά)τ(ωρ) Ῥωμ(αίων) Δούκ(ας)

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1674
Diameter 31.0 mm; field: 27.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 6, no. 84.4.

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

Translation

Μιχαὴλ αὐτοκράτωρ Ῥωμαίων Δούκας.

Michael Doukas, emperor of the Romans.

Commentary

On this seal as well as on BZS.1951.31.5.1672 and BZS.1951.31.5.1675, the book that Christ holds is decorated in the center with a single pellet.

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)