Marinos (bishop of) Oinaion (?) (eighth century)
Obverse
Inscription of three lines, preceded and followed by decorations. Wreath border.
+
γι
τρισ
βοηθη
+
Ἁγία Τριὰς βοήθη
Reverse
Inscription of three lines. Wreath border.
+
μρη
νωτ
υνε
+
Μαρήνῳ τοῦ ᾽Υνέου
Obverse
Inscription of three lines, preceded and followed by decorations. Wreath border.
+
γι
τρισ
βοηθη
+
Ἁγία Τριὰς βοήθη
Reverse
Inscription of three lines. Wreath border.
+
μρη
νωτ
υνε
+
Μαρήνῳ τοῦ ᾽Υνέου
| Accession number | BZS.1955.1.2057 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 28.0 mm; field: 21.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 4, no. 83.1. Zacos-Veglery, no. 926 (bishop of Hyneos); cf. Laurent, Corpus V/3, nos. 1927-28 (bishop of Synaion). |
Translation
Ἁγία Τριὰς βοήθη Μαρήνῳ τοῦ ᾽Υνέου.
Holy Trinity, help Marinos (bishop) of Oinaion.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Zacos-Veglery interpreted the seal as belonging to “Marinos of Hyneos” and wondered whether it could be the seal of a bishop and mentioned Oinaion. Laurent explained that it could very well be the seal of a bishop, discussed the Oinaion in Greece, but finally postulated an engraver’s error and proposed Συνέου, attributing the seal to the bishopric of Synaos, a suffragan of Laodikeia. As we have two seals with the same name, and given that the spelling mistake οι/υ is very common, we propose Οἰναίου.
The place-name Oinaion/Yneon, that Laurent (Corpus V/3, no. 1827) sought the east of Naupaktos in Greece, is well attested in the Pontos (today Ünye) but this town is not mentioned as a bishopric in the Notitiae episcopatuum. Only in one manuscript of Darrouzès, Notitiae no. 10 (l. 242, apparatus) Oinaion is mentioned as a bishopric of Neokaisareia in the place normally reserved to Rhizaion, a bishopric that is located some 300 km to the east. But this seal and BZS.1955.1.4681 are quite legible and certainly were struck at very different times. So we propose the hypothesis that the pontic Oinaion, the importance of which increased with time, may have become the seat of the neighboring bishop of Polemonion and that the name of the place where the prelate was, at times, living, may have appeared on some seals, without making its way into the official notitiae. Something similar seems to have happened in the seventeenth century: Chrysanthos, metr. of Trebizond, Ἡ ἐκκλησία τῆς Τραπεζοῦντος, AP 4-5 (1936) 711.