Leontios bishop of Chimara (eleventh century)

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding Christ. Sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines preceded and followed by decoration. Border of dots.

  
ΘΚΕ,Θ,
ΛΕΟΝΤΙ
ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠ
ΧΙΜΡΑΣ
  

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Λεοντίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Χιμάρας

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding Christ. Sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines preceded and followed by decoration. Border of dots.

  
ΘΚΕ,Θ,
ΛΕΟΝΤΙ
ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠ
ΧΙΜΡΑΣ
  

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Λεοντίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Χιμάρας

Accession number	BZS.1955.1.4657
Diameter	23.0 mm
Previous Editions	DO Seals 1, no. 15.1a. Cf. Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 685, which mentions another example, published by Ebersolt, Sceaux, no. 387 (209). Ebersolt read the name of the owner as ΛΕΟΝΤΙ; Laurent correctly emended the reading to ΛΕΟΝΤΙΩ, and indeed the letter omega is clearly legible on the illus. on pl. IX.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Λεοντίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Χιμάρας.

Theotokos, help Leontios bishop of Chimara.

Commentary

Chimara, a seacoast town located in present-day Albania to the northwest of Argyrokastron, may have been established as an episcopal see as early as the tenth century, but the first dated reference is found in the sigillion of May 1020, reaffirming the privileges of the archbishopric of Achrida: see Gelzer, in BZ 2 (1893) 45,18. At some point after the reign of Basil II, Chimara became attached to the see of Naupaktos (see Darrouzès, Notitiae, no. 10, line 541).

Bibliography

Parallel Seals