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(John) protoproedros (of the protosynkelloi and metropolitan) of Side (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Michael holding the labarum and the globus. On either side the inscription: Μ|ΙΧ|Α: Μιχα(ήλ). Border of dots between two linear borders.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, a decoration below. Border of dots between two linear borders.

ΟΡΑ
ΣΦΡΑΓΙ
ΔΑΠΡΤΟ
ΠΡΟΕΔΡ
ΣΙΔΗΣ

ὅρα σφραγίδα πρωτοπροέδρου Σίδης

Obverse

Bust of St. Michael holding the labarum and the globus. On either side the inscription: Μ|ΙΧ|Α: Μιχα(ήλ). Border of dots between two linear borders.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, a decoration below. Border of dots between two linear borders.

ΟΡΑ
ΣΦΡΑΓΙ
ΔΑΠΡΤΟ
ΠΡΟΕΔΡ
ΣΙΔΗΣ

ὅρα σφραγίδα πρωτοπροέδρου Σίδης

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4993
Diameter 18.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 78.3c. Cf. Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 407, along with three specimens from other collections, one from the Athens Museum and two from the IFEB collection; and Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden II, no. 1688.

Translation

ὅρα σφραγίδα πρωτοπροέδρου Σίδης.

Behold the seal of the protoproedros of Side.

Commentary

Dodecasyllabic. John of Side as protoproedros of the protosynkelloi, a title that he received in 1071. It was not necessary for him to spell out his name because he was the only protoproedros of the protosynkelloi. See BZS 1955.1.4845 (linked to this entry).

Side (today Selimiye, previously also called Eski Antalya, at 7 km from Manavgat) was a major late antique city, metropolis of Pamphylia first attested in 451, and appearing as such in all notitiae from the 7th century onward. The city declined after the seventh century and was seemingly abandoned in the eleventh, probably in favor of Attaleia (which, from bishopric, became [1084] metropolis), but "titular" metropolitans of Side continued being appointed. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 293-94; Fedalto, 238; Brandes, Städte, 102-3; ODB III, 1892.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • Die Städte Kleinasiens im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 2, Siegellegenden von Ny bis inklusive Sphragis (Open in Zotero)