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Eustratios . . . (logariastes?) of the monastery of (St. Nicholas) Moliboton (eleventh/twelfth centuries)

 
 

Obverse

Inscription of five lines. No visible border.

κυριε
οηθ,τ.
σδλ..
ρατι.
...

Κύριε βοήθ(ει) τ σῷ δούλ [Εὐ]στρατί[ῳ] . . .

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. No visible border.

...
αρια.
.ισμο.
.μολ.
τ.

. [λογ]αριαστ[ῇ τ]ῖς μονῆ[ς τ]οῦ Μολ[ι]βωτ[οῦ]

Obverse

Inscription of five lines. No visible border.

κυριε
οηθ,τ.
σδλ..
ρατι.
...

Κύριε βοήθ(ει) τ σῷ δούλ [Εὐ]στρατί[ῳ] . . .

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. No visible border.

...
αρια.
.ισμο.
.μολ.
τ.

. [λογ]αριαστ[ῇ τ]ῖς μονῆ[ς τ]οῦ Μολ[ι]βωτ[οῦ]

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.2085
Diameter 15.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 50.1; Laurent, Corpus 5.2: no. 1161 (no. 1162 on pl. 147).

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

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Εὐστρατίῳ . . .ῳ λογαριαστῇ τῖς μονῆς τοῦ Μολιβωτοῦ.

Lord, help your servant Eustratios ... logariastes of the monastery of (St. Nicholas) Moliboton.

Commentary

Obverse: Laurent reads only four lines, but there is certainly a fifth line at the bottom. The first line of the inscription on the reverse is basically illegible. It could be that it should be restored as SΛΟ.

The monastery of St. Nicholas Moliboton was established after the middle of the eleventh century, and was located outside the Golden Gate. The chroniclers mention that Constantine X Doukas was buried in May, 1067, in the monastery of St. Nicholas, ἣ καλεῖται Μολιβωτόν (Skylitzes Cont., 118.4; Janin, Églises, 372–73). We seem to have reference to this monastery (τῆς μονῆς τοῦ Μολιβωτοῦ) in the typikon of the Pantokrator (Gautier, "Pantocrator," 123). It is a question of imposts and four pounds of hyperpyra owed to the Pantokrator.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 5: The East (continued), Constantinople and Environs, Unknown Locations, Addenda, Uncertain Readings (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Ἡ συνέχεια τῆς Χρονογραφίας τοῦ Ἰωάννου Σκυλίτση (Open in Zotero)
  • La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, Vol. 1, Le siège de Constantinople et le patriarcat oecuménique, Pt. 3, Les églises et les monastères (Open in Zotero)
  • Le typikon du Christ Sauveur Pantocrator (Open in Zotero)