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John II Komnenos (1118–1143)

 
 

Obverse

A bearded Christ seated on a high-back throne, wearing a chiton and himation and holding the right hand in blessing and a book in the left. His feet rest on a dais. He has a nimbus cruciger. Sigla visible at left: ΙΣ̅ : Ἰ(ησοῦ)ς [Χ(ριστό)ς]. Border of dots.

Reverse

An emperor standing on a dais ornamented with dots. He wears a crown and a loros, an end of which is draped over the left wrist and decorated with six pellets. He holds in the right hand (a labarum?) and a globus cruciger in the left. Remains of a circular inscription at right.

. . . ρφυρογεννητω

[Ἰω(άννῃ) δεσπότ(ῃ) τῷ πο]ρφυρογεννήτῳ

Obverse

A bearded Christ seated on a high-back throne, wearing a chiton and himation and holding the right hand in blessing and a book in the left. His feet rest on a dais. He has a nimbus cruciger. Sigla visible at left: ΙΣ̅ : Ἰ(ησοῦ)ς [Χ(ριστό)ς]. Border of dots.

Reverse

An emperor standing on a dais ornamented with dots. He wears a crown and a loros, an end of which is draped over the left wrist and decorated with six pellets. He holds in the right hand (a labarum?) and a globus cruciger in the left. Remains of a circular inscription at right.

. . . ρφυρογεννητω

[Ἰω(άννῃ) δεσπότ(ῃ) τῷ πο]ρφυρογεννήτῳ

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1693
Diameter 40.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 6, no. 91.1. Two similar specimens are published in Zacos-Veglery, nos. 104a and 104b.

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

Translation

Ἰωάννῃ δεσπότῃ τῷ πορφυρογεννήτῳ.

The emperor John, born in the purple.

Commentary

We have attributed this specimen to John II Komnenos since the inscription on the reverse is in the dative case, just as on the one specimen published by Zacos and Veglery (no. 104a) that preserves the emperor’s name and title. For coins of John II with a similar inscription in the dative case, see DOC 4.1: no. 12a.

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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, Vol. 4, Alexius I to Michael VIII (1081–1261) (Open in Zotero)