The Byzantine Lead Seals at the Pera Museum

Year 2023, , 197 - 216, 12.11.2023

Nilgun Elam , Christos Malatras , Yavuz Selim Güler

https://doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.1299257

Abstract

The collection of lead seals of the Pera Museum consists of 17 unpublished pieces, except for three lead seals (nos.1, 8, and 10) which are dated from the second half of the 7th century to the 13th century. Ten of the seventeen Byzantine lead seals of the Pera Museum collection mention the dignities and the offices of their owners. These offices range from the lower rank of a simple notary (no. 5) up to the highest office of the emperor himself (no. 9). There is only one seal related to the ecclesiastical administration, issued by a bishop (no. 2). Noteworthy are the seals of Georgios (no. 6), who has the uniquely attested office of an imperial apothekarios, as well as the 11th-century seal of Pharasmanes Apokapes, member of a notable Byzantine family of Armenian origin, by whom no other seals have been published so far. Another group of seals consists of the specimens (nos. 11-14 and possibly also no. 17) where only the name or the surname of their owner is mentioned. All these pieces are dated to the period between the second half of the 11th century and the 13th century. In the collection, there are two more iconographic seals (nos. 15-16) depicting on both sides holy figures without any inscription that mentions their owner, and finally, an unidentified seal (no. 17) (dated to the end of the 11th century).

Keywords

Byzantine Lead Seals, Pera Museum, Byzantine Sigillography, Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation, Konstantinos IX Monomachos, Pharasmanes Apokapes, Leon Mosele, megas kourator of the domains of the empress

Pera Müzesi’ndeki Bizans Kurşun Mühürleri

Abstract

Pera Müzesi kurşun mühür koleksiyonu, 7. yüzyılın ikinci yarısından 13. yüzyıla kadar tarihlenen üç kurşun mühür (no.1, 8 ve 10) dışında, yayınlanmamış 17 parçadan oluşmaktadır. Pera Müzesi koleksiyonundaki 17 Bizans kurşun mühründen 10’unda sahiplerinin rütbe ve makamlarından bahsedilmektedir. Bu makamlar basit bir notarios’luktan (no. 5) en yüksek makam olan imparatorluk makamına (no. 9) kadar uzanmaktadır. Kilise yönetimiyle ilgili sadece bir mühür vardır, o da bir piskopos tarafından bastırılmıştır (no. 2(. İmparatorluk apothekarios’u gibi benzeri bulunmayan (unique) makama sahip olan Georgios’a ait olan mührün (no. 6) yanı sıra bugüne kadar başka hiçbir mührü yayınlanmamış olan Ermeni kökenli önemli bir Bizans ailesinin üyesi olan Pharasmanes Apokapes’e ait olan 11. yüzyıla ait mühür dikkate değerdir. Bir diğer mühür grubu ise sadece sahibinin adı ya da aile adının belirtildiği örneklerden (no. 11-14 ve muhtemelen no. 17) oluşmaktadır. Tüm bu parçalar, 11. yüzyılın ikinci yarısı ile 13. yüzyıl arasındaki döneme tarihlenmektedir. Koleksiyonda, her iki yüzünde de sahibinden bahseden herhangi bir yazıt bulunmayan, kutsal figürlerin tasvir edildiği iki ikonografik mühür (no. 15-16) ve son olarak 11. yüzyılın sonuna tarihlenen tanımlanamayan bir mühür (no. 17) daha bulunmaktadır.

Keywords

Bizans Kurşun Mühürleri, Pera Müzesi, Bizans Sigillografisi, Suna ve İnan Kıraç Vakfı, Konstantinos IX Monomachos, Pharasmanes Apokapes, Leon Mosele, imparatoriçenin topraklarının megas kourator’u

References

• M. Auzépy, La signification religieuse de l’aniconisme byzantine, in: M. Campagnolo, P. Magdalino, et al. (edd.), L’aniconisme dans l’art religieux byzantine (Actes du colloque de Genève 1–3 octobre 2009), Geneva 2014, 1-41.
• W. Brandes, Finanzverwaltung in Krisenzeiten. Untersuchungen zur byzantinischen Administration im 6.-9. Jahrhundert, Frankfurt am Main 2002.
• L. Brubaker – J. Haldon, Byzantium in the Iconoclast era, c. 680-850: a history, New York 2011.
• M. Campagnolo-Pothitou – J.-Cl. Cheynet, Sceaux de la collection Georges Zacos au Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève, Milan 2016.
• J.-Cl. Cheynet – T. Gökyildirim – V. Bulgurlu, Les sceaux byzantins du Musée archéologique d’Istanbul, Istanbul 2012.
• J.-Cl. Cheynet, Dévaluation des dignités et dévaluation monétaire dans la seconde moitié du XIe siecle, Byzantion 53 1983, 453-477.
• J.-C. Cheynet, Épiskeptitai et autres gestionnaires des biens publics (d’après les sceaux de l’IFEB), in: J.-C. Cheynet (ed.), La société byzantine. L’apport des sceaux, Paris 2008, 237-272 (= reprinted from: Studies in Byzantine Sigillography 7 (2002), 87-117).
• J. Cotsonis, Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art. Volume 7: Anonymous, with bilateral religious imagery, Washington, D.C. 2020.
• N. Elam, Giresun Müzesi’ndeki Bizans Kurşun Mühürleri, Karadeniz İncelemeleri Dergisi, 30, 2021, 671-704.
• Ph. Grierson, Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, Volume 3: Leo III to Nicephorus III, 717-1081. Washington, D.C. 1973.
• M. Grünbart, Die Familie Apokapes im Lichte neuer Quellen, Studies in Byzantine Sigillography (SBS) 5, 1998, 29-41.
• J. Haldon (ed.), Constantine Porphyrogenitus. Three treatises on imperial military expeditions. Introduction, Edition, Translation and Commentary, Vienna 1990.
• O. Karagiorgou – P. Charalampakis – C. Malatras, State officials in the themes of Opsikion, the Anatolikoi and the Kibyrraiotai: new and recently revisited sigillographic evidence, Byzantina Symmeikta 26, 2016, 247-308.
• K. M. Konstantopoulos, Βυζαντιακά μολυβδόβουλλα τοῠ ἐν Ἀθήναις Ἐθνικοῠ Νομισματικοῠ Μουσείου, Athens 1917.
• V. Laurent, Le corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin, vol. V.2: L’Eglise, Paris 1965.
• V. Laurent, Le corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin, vol. II: L’administration centrale, Paris 1981.
• P. Lemerle, Le testament d’Eustathios Boïlas (Avril 1059), in: P. Lemerle (ed.), Cinq études sur le XIe siècle byzantin, Paris 1977.
• J. W. Nesbitt, Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art. Volume 6: Emperors, Patriarchs of Constantinople, Addenda, Washington, D.C. 2009.
• J. W. Nesbitt – N. Oikonomides, Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1, Washington, D.C. 1991.
• M. Nichanian, La distinction à Byzance : société de cour et hiérarchie des dignités à Constantinople (VIe-IXe s.), Travaux et Memoires 17, 2013, 579-637.
• N. Oikonomides, Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles, Paris 1972.
• N. Oikonomides, A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. 1986.
• E. Ragia, The Geography of the Provincial Administration of the Byzantine Empire (Ca. 600-1200): I.3. Apothekai of Africa and Sicily, Final Notes and Conclusions, Eoa and Esperia 8, 2012, 113-144.
• R. Schieffer, Kreta, Rom und Laon. Vier Briefe des Papstes Vitalian vom Jahre 668, in: H. Mordek (ed.), Papsttum, Kirche und Recht im Mittelalter. Festschrift für Horst Fuhrmann zum 65. Geb., Tübingen 1991, 15-30.
• G. Schlumberger, Sigillographie de l’Émpire Byzantine, Paris 1884.
• W. Seibt, Die byzantinischen Bleisiegel in Österreich I. Teil, Kaiserhof, Vienna 1978.
• W. Seibt, Die Darstellung der Theotokos auf byzantinischen Bleisiegeln, besonders im 11. Jahrhundert [Studies in Byzantine sigillography 1], 1987, 35-56.
• W. Seibt – M.-L. Zarnitz, Das byzantinische Bleisiegel als Kunstwerk, Vienna 1997.
• V. S. Shandrovskaja, Popravki i dopolnenija k «katalogu molivdovulov» B.A. Panchenko, VizVrem 33, 1977, 102-119.
• P. G. Spanu – R. Zucca, I sigilli bizantini della Sardēnia, Roma 2004.
• Ch. Stavrakos, Die byzantinischen Bleisiegel mit Familiennamen aus der Sammlung des Numismatischen Museums Athen, Wiesbaden 2000.
• O. Tekin, Suna ve İnan Kıraç Vakfı Pierre Willemart Sikke Koleksiyonu = La Collection De Monnaie De Pierre Willemart De La Foundation Suna et İnan Kıraç, Istanbul 2009.
• O. Tekin, Corpus Ponderum Antiquorum et Islamicorum: Turkey 3. Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Collection at the Pera Museum, Part 1: Greek and Roman Weights, Istanbul 2013.
• O. Tekin, Corpus Ponderum Antiquorum et Islamicorum: Turkey 3. Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Collection at the Pera Museum, Part 2: Late Roman and Byzantine Weights, Istanbul 2015.
• A. K. Wassiliou-Seibt, Corpus der Byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden Teil 1. Einleitung, Siegellegenden von Alpha bis inkusive My, Vienna 2011.
• G. Zacos, The Byzantine Lead Seals, vol. II, compiled and edited by John W. Nesbitt, Berne 1984.
• G. Zacos – A. Veglery, The Byzantine Lead Seals, vol. I, Basel 1972.