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Lavra of the Eirenoupolitai of (Mt.) Latros (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding the medallion of Christ before her. On either side the sigla: ̅-θ̅υ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Tongues of fire above. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, decorations above and below. Border of dots.


λαυρα
ειριν
πολι,τ
λατρ

Λαύρα Εἰρινουπολι(τῶν) τοῦ Λάτρου[(ς)]

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding the medallion of Christ before her. On either side the sigla: ̅-θ̅υ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Tongues of fire above. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, decorations above and below. Border of dots.


λαυρα
ειριν
πολι,τ
λατρ

Λαύρα Εἰρινουπολι(τῶν) τοῦ Λάτρου[(ς)]

Accession number BZS.1958.106.176
Diameter 19.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 22.2b.

Translation

Λαύρα Εἰρινουπολιτῶν τοῦ Λάτρους.

Lavra of the Eirenoupolitai of Latros.

Commentary

This seal and BZS.1955.1.4948 come from the same boulloterion.

The "μονὴ τῶν Εἰρηνούντων" is attested on the Latros in a document of 1222 (MM IV, 296; cf. Janin, Grands centres, 224). Our seal may show that the community was in existence in the eleventh century. Yet this identification must remain uncertain since the name Εἰρηνουπολίτης indicates someone originating from Eirenoupolis, and two such cities certainly existed in Asia Minor (one in Isauria and one in Cilicia); and it is conceivable to have an "ethnic" monastic community in a center with the reputation of Latros.

The monastic community of Mt. Latros was situated near Milet in Caria. The first secure traces of the community date from the year 787. The community benefited from the largess on the part of Romanos I Lakapenos, suffered considerably from the Turks, starting with the late 70s of the eleventh century, had a new period of flourishing in the twelfth century, and survived until the fourteenth century. It contained several monasteries, the most important of which were the ones of Stylos (or St. Paul) and of Kellibara. The whole monastic community formed a kind of confederation with an archimandrites at its head. See Laurent, Corpus V/2, 156; Janin, Grands centres, 215-40; ODB II, 1188-89; and D. Stiernon in DHGE, fasc. 143 (1993) 1399-1403.

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)
  • 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)
  • Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Open in Zotero)