Skip to Content

(John?) Doukas (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Mark. Details indistinct. On either side, inscription: |μ|α|ρκ|ο|σ : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Μάρκος. Outside a border of pellets enclosed by dots, traces of a circular inscription that begins at the top:

γ̣ι̣σσφρ̣γ̣

[σφρα]γὶς σφραγ[ίζω τὰς γραφ(ὰς) Ἰω(άννου)]

Reverse

Bust of St. John Chrysostom. Details indistinct. On either side, inscription: |ι̅|ο|στ|μο|σ : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Ἰω(άννης) ὁ Χρ(υσό)στ(ο)μος. Outside a border of pellets enclosed by dots, traces of a circular inscription that began at the top:

κ̣δκ

[ῥίζαν ἔχοντος ἐ]κ Δούκα [γένους κλάδου]

Obverse

Bust of St. Mark. Details indistinct. On either side, inscription: |μ|α|ρκ|ο|σ : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Μάρκος. Outside a border of pellets enclosed by dots, traces of a circular inscription that begins at the top:

γ̣ι̣σσφρ̣γ̣

[σφρα]γὶς σφραγ[ίζω τὰς γραφ(ὰς) Ἰω(άννου)]

Reverse

Bust of St. John Chrysostom. Details indistinct. On either side, inscription: |ι̅|ο|στ|μο|σ : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Ἰω(άννης) ὁ Χρ(υσό)στ(ο)μος. Outside a border of pellets enclosed by dots, traces of a circular inscription that began at the top:

κ̣δκ

[ῥίζαν ἔχοντος ἐ]κ Δούκα [γένους κλάδου]

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.3512
Diameter 21.0 mm
Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore.

Translation

σφραγὶς σφραγίζω τὰς γραφὰς Ἰωάννου ῥίζαν ἔχοντος ἐκ Δούκα γένους κλάδου.

I, the seal, seal the letters of John, who stems from a branch of the Doukas family.

Commentary

The restoration is of course conjectural but is based on comparative inscriptions from other specimens.