Antiquities Discussion Forums > Seals and Tesserae

Identification Help on Byzantine Lead Seal

(1/1)

Kath D2:
This is the last one I cannot ID.  It looks like Byzantine 11th Century.  Obv. looks like <q>O / F / E</q> and <q>O / D / O</q>

Again, I appreciate any help and direction on this seal.

Thanks so much!

Kath D.

Gert:
Θ / Θ/Є-OΔO on the obverse. The first 'theta' is intended as ligature A inside O for 'ho hagios', 'Saint'. The name is of course St. Theodo(ros)

On the reverse I read:

+[Λ]EON
ACΠAΘP,
EΠI T (XP)Γ
KΛ, T(?)O CA
....AC

So Leon, protospatharios epi tou Chrysotriklinou. Which is followed, I think, by his family name Sa...as. Note that the court dignity is heavily abbreviated. Epi t(ou) Chr(yso)(tri)kl(inou). Chryso (gold) is abbreviated with XP, which shows that the "Christogram" even in Christian times does not always refer to Christ. Tri is given by gamma, which as a numeral stands for 3. The dignity, which is very common on seals, refers to the Golden Hall (Chrysotriklinos) in the imperial palace.

Joe Sermarini:
Thanks Gert.

Navigation

[0] Message Index