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Leo bishop of Adraneia (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding the medallion of Christ before her. No inscription visible. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Bottom line not imprinted. Border of dots.

.κεR.
.εοντ
.πισκο
αδρα
..α.

[Θ(εοτό)]κε β[(οή)θ(ει) Λ]έοντ[ι ἐ]πισκό[π(ῳ)] Ἀδρα[νεί]α[ς].

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding the medallion of Christ before her. No inscription visible. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Bottom line not imprinted. Border of dots.

.κεR.
.εοντ
.πισκο
αδρα
..α.

[Θ(εοτό)]κε β[(οή)θ(ει) Λ]έοντ[ι ἐ]πισκό[π(ῳ)] Ἀδρα[νεί]α[ς].

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.2818
Diameter 18.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 41.1.

Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 363.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Λέοντι ἐπισκόπῳ Ἀδρανείας.

Mother of God, help Leo, bishop of Adraneia.

Commentary

A partially struck letter with an angular top in the last line may represent α and so confirm the reading as Adraneia (and not the Bithynian Adranoi).

Adraneia was a see in the province of Hellespont, mentioned in notitiae from the ninth to twelfth century (Darrouzes, Notitiae, nos. 2, 7, 10, 13). Its bishops attended the councils of 787 and 879. Its precise location is uncertain but Darrouzès (Notitiae, 221, note 199) assumes that the see derived its name from ancient Hadrianeia in central Mysia, and so it must be situated at Balat (modern Dursunbey; see L. Robert, Villes d'Asie Mineure, 372, 412). Se Laurent, Corpus V/1, 257; DHGE fasc. 131, col. 1434-1437 (D. Stiernon). To the names of known bishops should be added Constantine and John (Zacos, Seals II, nos. 800 and 821).

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)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)