That is very interesting seal you have there. The
reverse has a pentagram or pentalpha (if you
search DO for that last term, you will find a seal with the same device). Now, the reason why our John would have chosen a pentagram is another matter. John Nesbitt wrote an article on
apotropaic devices on
seals (in C.
Entwistle, THrough a
Glass Brightly) in which he also cites the DO specimen. I don't agree with
his conclusion that these
seals served the function of an
amulet, but he is not mistaken that some of the iconography of early
seals is sometimes similar to magical imagery of previous centuries.
Seals belonged to the highest tiers of
Byzantine society, and I don't think it is likely that these people would entertain themselves with magic in public (ie, on their
seals), as magic was condemned by the
Church.
Regards
Gert
