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John bishop of Kaloe (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding Christ in her left arm, who in turn holds a scroll in his left hand. On either side the inscription: ̅-θ̅υ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, top line missing. Border of dots.

......
.ωσωδ,λ,
ι̅ω̅επισκ,
ποκαλο
–ησ–

[Θ(εοτό)κε β(οή)θ(ει) τ]ῷ σῷ δ(ού)λ(ῳ) Ἰω(άννῃ) ἐπισκ(ό)πο Καλόης

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding Christ in her left arm, who in turn holds a scroll in his left hand. On either side the inscription: ̅-θ̅υ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, top line missing. Border of dots.

......
.ωσωδ,λ,
ι̅ω̅επισκ,
ποκαλο
–ησ–

[Θ(εοτό)κε β(οή)θ(ει) τ]ῷ σῷ δ(ού)λ(ῳ) Ἰω(άννῃ) ἐπισκ(ό)πο Καλόης

Accession number BZS.1958.106.305
Diameter 25.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 19.1.

Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 280.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Ἰωάννῃ ἐπισκόπο Καλόης.

Mother of God, help your servant John, bishop of Kaloe.

Commentary

Kaloe (or Koloe), in the upper Cayster valley, has been identified with modern Keles: a suffragan bishopric of Ephesos, mentioned in all notitiae from the seventh to the thirteenth centuries. Its first bishop is attested in 431. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 196; Culerrier, Suffragants d'Ephèse, 156 (episcopal list). Its one claim to fame is as the birthplace of the tenth-century historian Leo the Deacon.

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)
  • Les évêchés suffragants d’Ephèse aux 5e-13e siècles (Open in Zotero)