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Sophronios archbishop of Miletos (tenth/eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Indistinct bust of the Virgin holding the medallion of Christ before her. Sigla: μ.-θ : Μ[(ήτη)ρ] Θ[(εο)ῦ]. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

σφρο
αρχηε
πισκ..
μηλιτ.

Σωφρό[ν(ιος)] ἀρχηεπίσκ[οπ(ος)] Μηλίτ(ου).

Obverse

Indistinct bust of the Virgin holding the medallion of Christ before her. Sigla: μ.-θ : Μ[(ήτη)ρ] Θ[(εο)ῦ]. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

σφρο
αρχηε
πισκ..
μηλιτ.

Σωφρό[ν(ιος)] ἀρχηεπίσκ[οπ(ος)] Μηλίτ(ου).

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.2848
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 26.3.

Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 828.

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

Translation

Σωφρόνιος ἀρχηεπίσκοπος Μηλίτου.

Sophronios, archbishop of Miletos.

Commentary

This famous ancient city kept its name into the ninth century when it still constituted the center of a fiscal perception unit (διοίκησις); but the city closed itself inside fortifications, mainly in the old theater, and took a new name, Palatia (modern Balat), due to its spectacular antiquities. It was a bishopric as early as the fourth century, had become archbishopric by 538, and became metropolis in the twelfth century. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 543; Brandes, Städte, 89-92; ODB II, 1372-73.

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)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Die Städte Kleinasiens im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert (Open in Zotero)