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John archbishop of Thessalonica (seventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform monogram consisting of Ω in center; Ν at left.; Ν at right; at bottom; and at top = Ἰωάννου. In the quarters: ΑΡΧΙΕΠ|ΙΣΚΟΠ. Wreath border.

Ἰωάννου ἀρχιεπισκόπου

Reverse

Inscription of three lines preceded and followed by decoration. Wreath border.


ESS
LON
ICE

Tessalonicae

Obverse

Cruciform monogram consisting of Ω in center; Ν at left.; Ν at right; at bottom; and at top = Ἰωάννου. In the quarters: ΑΡΧΙΕΠ|ΙΣΚΟΠ. Wreath border.

Ἰωάννου ἀρχιεπισκόπου

Reverse

Inscription of three lines preceded and followed by decoration. Wreath border.


ESS
LON
ICE

Tessalonicae

Accession number BZS.1958.106.72
Diameter 25.0 mm; field: 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 18.83a.
Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 447.

Translation

Ἰωάννου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Tessalonicae.

(Seal of) John, bishop of Thessalonica.

Commentary

This specimen has the same alignment of letters but comes from a different boulloterion than BZS.1977.34.89.

Laurent assigned our specimen (a) to the metropolitan John [I], the author of the first collection of the Miracles of St. Demetrios, who was elevated to the throne about the beginning of the reign of Heraclius, succeeding an archbishop Eusebius (attested between 597 and 603; cf. Lemerle, St. Démétrius, 27, 28). This attribution is probably correct because of the use of Latin on the present seal. But the attribution to the second seventh-century metropolitan John who was present at the third council of Constantinople, 680-1 (ibid., 29), should not necessarily be ruled out, especially since Latin seems still to have been spoken in Thessalonica in the late seventh century; Martha Gregoriou-Ioannidou, Μιὰ παρατήρηση στὴ διήγηση τῶν θαυμάτων τοῦ ἁγίου Δημητρίου, Βυζαντιακά 3 (1983) 83-90.

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)
  • Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de Saint Démétrius et la pénétration des Slaves dans les Balkans (Open in Zotero)
  • Μιὰ παρατήρηση στὴ διήγηση τῶν θαυμάτων τοῦ Ἁγίου Δημητρίου (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Silk Trade and Production in Byzantium from the Sixth to the Ninth Century: The Seals of Kommerkiarioi (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Bleisiegel in Berlin (West) (Open in Zotero)
  • Le kommerkion d’Abydos, Thessalonique et le commerce bulgare du 9e siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Recherches sur les douanes à Byzance: L’octava, le "kommerkion" et les commerciares (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • L’éparque de Thessalonique: les origines d'une institution administrative (VIIIe-IXe siècles) (Open in Zotero)