The New Monastery of Kosmas Tzintziloukios (eleventh century)
Obverse
The Virgin seated on a throne, holding medallion of Christ before her and resting her feet on a suppedion. The throne, made entirely of cannonball design, with its four legs visible, has a high back and a round cushion with triple tassel at the end(s). Inscription: ̅ΘΥ̅: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.
ΣΦΡΑΓ,
ΤΗΣΝΕΑΣ
ΜΟΝΗΣΤ
ΚΟΣΜΑΤ
ΤΙΤΙ
ΛΚΙ
Σφραγὶς τῆς Νέας Μονῆς τοῦ μοναχοῦ Κοσμᾶ τοῦ Τζιντζιλουκίου
Obverse
The Virgin seated on a throne, holding medallion of Christ before her and resting her feet on a suppedion. The throne, made entirely of cannonball design, with its four legs visible, has a high back and a round cushion with triple tassel at the end(s). Inscription: ̅ΘΥ̅: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.
ΣΦΡΑΓ,
ΤΗΣΝΕΑΣ
ΜΟΝΗΣΤ
ΚΟΣΜΑΤ
ΤΙΤΙ
ΛΚΙ
Σφραγὶς τῆς Νέας Μονῆς τοῦ μοναχοῦ Κοσμᾶ τοῦ Τζιντζιλουκίου
| Accession number | BZS.1955.1.5074 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 16.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 1, no. 60.1c. |
| Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Σφραγὶς τῆς Νέας Μονῆς τοῦ μοναχοῦ Κοσμᾶ τοῦ Τζιντζιλουκίου.
Seal of the New Monastery of the monk Kosmas Tzintziloukios.
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)
- Actes du Prôtaton (Open in Zotero)
- Actes d’Esphigménou (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
This seal comes from the same boulloterion as BZS.1955.1.5073, but from a different boulloterion than the larger BZS.1951.31.5.2894.
A monastery of the Virgin Tzintziloukiotissa, situated in the Rhodopes, close to Mosynoupolis, is attested in 1294, probably founded in the mid-eleventh century by the monk Kosmas Tzintziloukes, presumably the same one who tonsured Michael IV (1041) and drafted the second typikon of Mount Athos in the name of Constantine IX Monomachos (1045): see Prôtaton, 101 ff. We also know the personal seal of this Kosmas Tzintziloukes (Laurent, Corpus V/2, no. 1271). It is probable that the image of the Virgin represented on both boulloteria reproduced the icon of the Virgin Tzintziloukiotissa, mentioned in a document of 1294: Esphigménou, app. E.
Modern Rodostos (Tekirdağ), located on the Sea of Marmara. Similar to its sister city of Panidos, Raidestos had its own archon in the tenth century. Also like Panidos, Raidestos was a center of the wheat trade, as illustrated by the famous "foundax of Raidestos," a monopoly over the wheat trade created by Emperor Michael VII (Ostrogorsky, History, 306). The commercial character of the city explains why it had so many tax collectors (dioiketai).
Raidestos was a suffragan bishopric of Herakleia (elevated to a metropolis for a short time in the 14th century). The see existed as early as the seventh century (see Darrouzès, Notitiae, 207, line 122); a bishop John is known to have attended the council of 787 (Θρακικά 14 [1940] 162). See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 218-19 and Asdracha, Thrace orientale, 248, 292-93.