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Leontios bishop of Chimara (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God holding the Child in her left arm. Sigla on either side: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

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


ΘΚΕ,Θ,

ΛΕΟΝΤΙ
ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠ
ΧΙΜΡΑΣ

Θ(εοτό)κε β(οή)θ(ει) Λεοντίῳ ἐπισκόπ(ῳ) Χιμ(ά)ρας

Obverse

Bust of the Mother of God holding the Child in her left arm. Sigla on either side: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

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


ΘΚΕ,Θ,

ΛΕΟΝΤΙ
ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠ
ΧΙΜΡΑΣ

Θ(εοτό)κε β(οή)θ(ει) Λεοντίῳ ἐπισκόπ(ῳ) Χιμ(ά)ρας

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.

Mother of God, 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

  • 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)
  • Sceaux byzantins du musée de Constantinople (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)