Demetrios metropolitan of Kyzikos (tenth century)
Obverse
Bust of St. Demetrios holding a martyr's cross. On either side the inscription: Γ|Η|ΗΤΡΙ|ΕΟΗΘ. Border of dots.
[῞Α]γ[(ιε) Δ]η[μ]ήτριε βοήθ(ει)
Obverse
Bust of St. Demetrios holding a martyr's cross. On either side the inscription: Γ|Η|ΗΤΡΙ|ΕΟΗΘ. Border of dots.
[῞Α]γ[(ιε) Δ]η[μ]ήτριε βοήθ(ει)
Reverse
Inscription of five lines beginning with a cross. Border of dots.
ΔΗΜ.
ΤΡΙΩΜΗ
ΤΡΟΠΟΛˊ
ΤΗΚΥΖ
Κ
Δημ[η]τρίῳ μητροπολ(ί)τῃ Κυζ[ί]κ(ου)
Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.1832 |
---|---|
Diameter | 19.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 53.3. |
Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
῞Αγιε Δημήτριε βοήθει Δημητρίῳ μητροπολίτῃ Κυζίκου.
St. Demetrios, help Demetrios, metropolitan of Kyzikos.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
- Nicholas I, Patriarch of Constantinople: Letters (Open in Zotero)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
- Die Städte Kleinasiens im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert (Open in Zotero)
- Kleinasiatische Ortsnamen (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
This prelate might be, as Laurent notes, the Demetrios of Kyzikos to whom Patriarch Nicholas I Mystikos addressed a letter in 920/925 (Nicholas I, Letters, 584). It is unusual for an invocation to appear in the form of a vertical inscription; it is ordinarily added as a circular inscription.
Kyzikos (modern Balkız) was originally a bishopric of the eparchia of Asia, but in the second half of the IVth century it became the metropolis of the Hellespont. It is listed in all the notitiae until the XVth century. In 688-689 Cypriots were brought to inhabit the peninsula together with their archbishop (cf. DOSeals 2.38). See Laurent, Corpus, V/1, 246-47; Zgusta, 310; Brandes, Städte, 115-18; ODB II, 1164-65.
In addition the seals of this see published by Laurent, see also the bulla of Leo of Kyzikos published in Zacos, Seals II, no. 552; cf. also SBS 3 [1993] 186.