162 Part Two: Epigrams in Context
The smallest artefacts on which verse inscriptions can be found are lead
seals^33. The texts usually consist of one or two verses; quatrains appear on a few
lead seals dating from the Comnenian age and the late Byzantine period^34.
Metrical seals make use of the dodecasyllable^35. The texts are cliched and
embroider on standard formulae, such as graó2ß sórag5fz or Qeotöke bo8qei,
the only fanciful element being the Byzantine gusto for puns and wordplay^36.
Early Byzantine lead seals only bear the name and title of their owners. In the
late tenth century, family names start to appear, and in the Comnenian age,
there is a clear tendency to increasingly mention aristocratic affiliations. Due
to these changes in the official nomenclature, the length of verse inscriptions
gradually expands and monostichs eventually evolve into distichs. It is diffi-
cult to establish exactly when inscriptions in metre (instead of prose) became
fashionable in Byzantium. The eleventh-century date that Laurent proposed
in his seminal book “Les bulles métriques”^37 is certainly too late, but it is not
entirely clear whether the popularity of metrical seals started in the tenth
century or at some earlier date. Seals usually carry representations of Christ,
the Theotokos, apostles, martyrs and saints – holy figures to whom the owner
of the seal prays for salvation. See, for instance, the following verse inscription:
Kr8thß pröedron, Crist6, s$foiß \Andr6an (“Christ, save Andrew, Bishop of
Crete”). This lead seal has been attributed to the famous eighth-century hym-
nographer, Andrew of Crete; if the identification is correct, it would be the
oldest metrical seal known to us^38.
Given the fact that the works of art currently on display in museums,
private collections and libraries form just a small, and perhaps not even
representative, selection of Byzantine art, the number of luxury objects com-
missioned by Basil the Nothos is truly exceptional. Basil’s donations include
(^33) There are also a few ceremonial coins that bear verse inscriptions: for instance, D6spoina
sîwfoiß eJseb‰ Monom1con (Const. IX), ed. PH. GRIERSON, Catalogue of the Byzantine
Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, vol. III.
Washington, D.C., 1973, 745–746.
(^34) See M. MARCOVICH, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 14 (1974) 171–173.
(^35) See H. HUNGER, Studies in Byzantine Sigillography 2 (1990) 27–37. Recent attempts to
discover the political verse and other metres on metrical seals (see, for instance, E.
MCGEER, Studies in Byzantine Sigillography 4 (1995) 63–69) are hardly convincing: the
combination of standard formulae and family names may produce discordant ‘metrical’
patterns, but these ‘metres’ are purely coincidental.
(^36) See H. HUNGER, Die metrischen Siegellegenden der Byzantiner. Vienna 1988 (Sonder-
ausgabe aus dem Anzeiger der phil.-hist. Klasse der Österreichischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften, 125. Jahrgang).
(^37) V. LAURENT, Les bulles métriques dans la sigillographie byzantine. Athens 1932.
(^38) Ed. V. LAURENT, Le corpus des sceaux de l’ Empire Byzantin, V. Paris 1963, no. 619, and
G. ZACOS & A. VEGLERY, Byzantine Lead Seals, vol. I. Basel 1972, no. 1293.