Michael "pastor" (= archbishop) of Apros (eleventh/twelfth century)
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin orans with medallion of Christ before her. Sigla: ..Θ̅Υ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin orans with medallion of Christ before her. Sigla: ..Θ̅Υ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.
ΑΠΡ
ΜΙΧΑΗΛ
ΠΟΙΜΕΝΑ
ΣΚΕΠΟΙΣ
ΚΟΡΗ
Ἄπρου Μιχαὴλ ποιμένα σκέποις, Κόρη
Accession number | BZS.1958.106.170 |
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Diameter | 21.0 mm; field: 17.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 1, no. 46.1. Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 838. Cf. Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden I, no. 128. |
Translation
Ἄπρου Μιχαὴλ ποιμένα σκέποις, Κόρη.
Virgin, may you protect Michael, pastor of Apros.
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)
- Un décret synodal inédit du patriarche Jean VIII Xiphilin (Open in Zotero)
- La Thrace Orientale et La Mer Noire: Géographie Ecclésiastique et Prosopographie (VIIIe-XIIe Siècles) (Open in Zotero)
- Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 1, Siegellegenden von Alpha bis inclusive My (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Twelve-syllable verse inscription. Following Laurent, we would attribute this seal to the Michael who signed a document of 1072 (see N. Oikonomides, "Un décret synodal inédit de Jean VIII Xiphilin," REB 18 [1960] 57). Cf. Asdracha, Thrace orientale, 282.
Situated in Turkish Thrace (modern Kermian), Apros was already an autocephalous archiepiscopate in the second quarter of the seventh century and was raised to the status of a metropolis in the second half of the twelfth century. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 650-51; Asdracha, Thrace orientale, 235-36, 281-83.