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Sisinnios bishop of Proussa (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Michael, details obscure. Within a border of dots, part of a circular inscription visible:

+ΑΡΧ.......Ο..

Ἀρχ[ιστράτ(ηγε)] βο[ήθ(ει)]

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, an indistinct decoration below. Border of dots.

+ΣΙΣΙ
ΝΙΕΠΙΣ
ΚΟΠΠΡ
ΟΥΣΗΣ

Σισινίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Προύσης.

Obverse

Bust of St. Michael, details obscure. Within a border of dots, part of a circular inscription visible:

+ΑΡΧ.......Ο..

Ἀρχ[ιστράτ(ηγε)] βο[ήθ(ει)]

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, an indistinct decoration below. Border of dots.

+ΣΙΣΙ
ΝΙΕΠΙΣ
ΚΟΠΠΡ
ΟΥΣΗΣ

Σισινίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Προύσης.

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4672
Diameter 18.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 67.3.

Translation

Ἀρχ[ιστράτ(ηγε)] βο[ήθ(ει)] Σισινίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Προύσης.

Commander of the heavenly host, help Sisinnios, bishop of Proussa.

Commentary

Proussa (modern Bursa at the foot of Mount Olympus in Bithynia), a suffragan of Nikomedeia (but situated in the Opsikion theme), was represented at the Council of Nicaea in 325 and is mentioned as such in all notitiae until the twelfth century. In early times, it was also called Θεούπολις: cf. Zacos-Veglery II, no. 1096. After its conquest by the Turks in 1326, it became a metropolis (about 1359). See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 273; Janin, Grands centres, 174-75; ODB III, 1750. 

We note that St. Michael is usually represented on the seals of the bishops of Proussa, allowing us to hypothesize that the episcopal church of the city may have been dedicated to the Archangel. Cf. SBS 4 (1994) 22.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, vol. 2, Les églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins (Open in Zotero)