The Religious Figural Imagery of Byzantine Lead Seals I: Studies on the Image of Christ, the Virgin and Narrative Scenes

341 Pages·2020·29.676 MB·English

by  John A. Cotsonis

The Religious Figural Imagery of
Byzantine Lead Seals I
The articles republished in this volume are ground-breaking studies that employ
a large body of religious figural imagery of Byzantine lead seals ranging from the
6th to the 15th century. A number of the studies present tables, charts and graphs
in their analysis of iconographic trends and changing popularity of saintly figures
over time. And because many of the seals bear inscriptions that include the names,
titles or offices of their owners, information often not given for the patrons of
sacred images in other media, these diminutive objects permit an investigation into
the social use of sacred imagery through the various sectors of Byzantine culture:
the civil, ecclesiastical and military administrations. The religious figural imagery
of the lead seals, accompanied by their owners’ identifying inscriptions, offers a
means of investigating both the broader visual piety of the Byzantine world and
the intimate realm of their owners’ personal devotions. Other studies in this vol-
ume are devoted to rare or previously unknown sacred images that demonstrate the
value of the iconography of Byzantine lead seals for Byzantine studies in general.
This volume includes studies dedicated to the image of Christ, primarily found
on imperial seals, various images of the Virgin and narrative or Christological
scenes. A companion volume presents various articles focusing on sphragistic
images of saints and on the religious imagery of Byzantine seals as a means of
investigating the personal piety of seal owners, as well as the wider realm of the
visual piety and religious devotions of Byzantine culture at all levels.
John A. Cotsonis is Director of the Archbishop Iakovos Library at Holy Cross
Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, MA, a Bishop of the Greek
Orthodox Archdiocese of America and a Byzantine art historian specializing in
the iconography of Byzantine lead seals. He is the author of Byzantine Figural
Processional Crosses which is regarded as the standard work on the subject.
Also in the Variorum Collected Studies Series
PEREGRINE HORDEN and NICHOLAS PURCELL
The Boundless Sea
Writing Mediterranean History (CS1083)
MOHAMED EL MANSOUR
The Power of Islam in Morocco
Historical and Anthropological Perspectives (CS1082)
JOHN MARSHALL, edited by PHILIP BUTTERWORTH
Early English Performance: Medieval Plays and Robin Hood Games
Shifting Paradigms in Early English Drama Studies (CS1081)
JENNIFER O’REILLY, edited by CAROL A. FARR and
ELIZABETH MULLINS
Early Medieval Text and Image II
The Codex Amiatinus, the Book of Kells and Anglo-Saxon Art (CS1080)
JENNIFER O’REILLY, edited by CAROL A. FARR and
ELIZABETH MULLINS
Early Medieval Text and Image I
The Insular Gospel Books (CS1079)
JENNIFER O’REILLY, edited by MÁIRÍN MACCARRON
and DIARMUID SCULLY
History, Hagiography and Biblical Exegesis
Essays on Bede, Adomnán and Thomas Becket (CS1078)
MICHAEL BRETT
The Fatimids and Egypt (CS1077)
HIROSHI TAKAYAMA
Sicily and the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages (CS1076)
STEPHEN KATZ
Holocaust Studies
Critical Reflections (CS1075)
JOHN W. WATT
The Aristotelian Tradition in Syriac (CS1074)
PEREGRINE HORDEN
Cultures of Healing: Medieval and After (CS1073)
DAVID LUSCOMBE
Peter Abelard and Heloise: Collected Studies (CS1072)
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/
history/series/VARIORUMCS
VARIORUM COLLECTED STUDIES
The Religious Figural Imagery of
Byzantine Lead Seals I

John A. Cotsonis
The Religious Figural Imagery of
Byzantine Lead Seals I
Studies on the Image of Christ,
the Virgin and Narrative Scenes
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition © 2020 John A. Cotsonis
The right of John A. Cotsonis to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Cotsonis, John A., author.
Title: The religious figural imagery of Byzantine lead seals. I, Studies on
the image of Christ, the Virgin and narrative scenes / John A. Cotsonis.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2020. | Series: Variorum collected
studies; CS1085 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019046264 | ISBN 9780367346966 (hardcover) |
ISBN 9780429327193 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ—Art. | Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint—Art. |
Seals (Numismatics)—Byzantine Empire. | Christianity and culture—
Byzantine Empire.
Classification: LCC N8050 .C68 2020 | DDC 704.9/4853—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019046264
ISBN: 978-0-367-34696-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-32719-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
VARIORUM COLLECTED STUDIES SERIES CS1085
With gratitude to His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America
Σφραγῖδα φέρει τῆς Μεγάλης Ἐκκλησίας
(cf. G. Zacos & A. Veglery, Byzantine Lead Seals [Basel, 1972],
I:1, no. 345)

CONTENTS
List of figures xiii
List of graphs xix
List of tables xx
Acknowledgments xxi
Abbreviations xxiii
Introduction 1
PART I
Imperial & patriarchal seals 17
1 To invoke or not to invoke the image of Christ on Byzantine lead
seals – that is the question 19
Revue numismatique 170 (2013), 549–582
2 The imagery of Patriarch Methodios I’s lead seals and the new
world order of ninth-century Byzantium 54
Legacy of Achievement: Metropolitan Methodios of Boston Festal
Volume on the 25th Anniversary of His Consecration to the
Episcopate, 1982–2007, ed. G. Dragas (Boston, 2008), 366–387
3 The imagery of Patriarch Ignatios’s lead seals and the rota
fortunae of ninth-century Byzantine ecclesio-political policies 75
Servant of the Gospel: Studies in Honor of His-All Holiness
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, ed. T. FitzGerald (Brookline,
MA, 2011), 52–98
4 A seal of Patriarch Nicholas II 110
Byzantion 76 (2006), 423–432
(with John Nesbitt)
ix