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Basil bishop of Synaos (tenth/eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Basil blessing with his right hand and holding a book in his left hand. Inscription in two columns: |R|σι-λ|ι|ο : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Βασίλιο(ς). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

+Rασι
.ειε
.ισκοπ
σ.να

Βασι[λ]είῳ ἐ[π]ισκόπ(ῳ) Σ[υ]ναοῦ

Obverse

Bust of St. Basil blessing with his right hand and holding a book in his left hand. Inscription in two columns: |R|σι-λ|ι|ο : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Βασίλιο(ς). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

+Rασι
.ειε
.ισκοπ
σ.να

Βασι[λ]είῳ ἐ[π]ισκόπ(ῳ) Σ[υ]ναοῦ

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.294
Diameter 24.0 mm; field: 21.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 37.1. See also Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 734.

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

Translation

Βασιλείῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Συναοῦ.

Basil, bishop of Synaos.

Commentary

Laurent read the final line of the reverse inscription as σανα. But no letter is visible after the initial sigma and we do not accept Laurent's assertion that this specimen resolves the problem of the "true spelling of the name of the suffragan bishopric of Laodikeia." We restore the missing letter as upsilon because the bishopric of Sanaos is not attested after the fifth century whereas Synaos appears in many later sources.

Apart from Ankyrosynaos, we have (a) the bishopric of Sanaos, modenr Sarikavak at 40 km southwest of Apameia, attested only until the fifth century (Phrygien und Pisidien, 371), and (b) Synaos, today Simav on the south shore of Simav Göl, attested throughout the centures (Phrygien und Pisidien, 395-96) and appearing in the notitiae both under Laodikeia and under Hierapolis. Laurent (Corpus V/1, 559) and Darrouzès (Notitiae, 27) hypothesize that Synaos of Laodikeia could in fact be identical to Sanaos and that the name was corrupted by copyists, but there is no evidence to support this hypothesis.

Laurent attributed two seals of the DO Collection to Synaos, but we consider them too doubtful to list with the seal edited here (Laurent, Corpus V/3, nos. 1739, 1827-28 [= Zacos-Veglery, no. 926]).

Bibliography