George archbishop of Bulgaria (ninth century, second half)
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin holding Christ before her. On either side, a small cross. No sigla. Circular inscription along the circumference beginning at seven o'clock. Border of dots.
ΘΚΕ̣ΟΗΘΤΣΔΛ
Θ(εοτό)κε βοήθ(ει) τῷ σῷ δούλ(ῳ)
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin holding Christ before her. On either side, a small cross. No sigla. Circular inscription along the circumference beginning at seven o'clock. Border of dots.
ΘΚΕ̣ΟΗΘΤΣΔΛ
Θ(εοτό)κε βοήθ(ει) τῷ σῷ δούλ(ῳ)
Reverse
Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.
ΓΕ
ΡΓΙΑΡΧ
ΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠ
ΟΥΛΓΑ
ΡΙΑΣ
Γεωργίῳ ἀρχιεπισκόπῳ Βουλγαρίας
Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.5 |
---|---|
Diameter | 27.0 mm; field: 19.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 1, no. 29.5. |
Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Γεωργίῳ ἀρχιεπισκόπῳ Βουλγαρίας.
Theotokos, help your servant George, archbishop of Bulgaria.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Stari Bŭlgarski Stolit︠s︡i : Pliska, Veliki Preslav, Tŭrnovgrad (Open in Zotero)
- A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- Patrologia Graeca (Open in Zotero)
- Les duchés byzantins de Paristrion (Paradounavon) et de Bulgarie (Open in Zotero)
- Bolgarija i Vizantija v XI-XII vv. (Open in Zotero)
- L’évolution de l’organisation administrative de l’empire byzantin au XIe siècle (1025–1118) (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Both Laurent and Seibt assign this group of seals to the tenth century. Laurent, however, believed that this archbishop George was the predecessor of Patriarch Damian (945-972), while Seibt asserts that the series dates from the reign of Emperor John I Tzimiskes (969-976). The fact that the Virgin appears without the customary sigla seems, however, to suggest an earlier date, possibly late ninth century; see, e.g., the patriarchs Photios, Stephen I, Anthony II, and Nicholas I, who typically issued seals decorated with representations of the Virgin without any identifying inscription: Laurent, Corpus V/1, nos. 7-11, Zacos, Seals II, nos. 7-1, and DO Seals 6, § 113-115. Cf. also the imperial seals of Constantine VII and Zoe published in Zacos-Veglery, no. 64 and Oikonomides, Dated Seals, no. 57. The same date, late ninth/early tenth century, is also suggested by the inscription's elongated letters and the constant use of the angular omega. Consequently, the attribution of this seal to the archbishop of Bulgaria George, attested in 878 (Migne, PL 126, col. 760), cannot be excluded; indeed this hypothesis seems more likely.