Introduction

Lead seals received their impressions from a boulloterion. This tool, in use as early as the 4th century, was a pliers-shaped iron implement, incised in reverse on the inner surfaces of its two hammer-like jaws. There are many early seals that have an image of an eagle, while a smaller number from the middle Byzantine period bear depictions of various animals. Many of the thousands of surviving lead seals bear images of Christ, the Virgin, various saints and narrative scenes depicting events from the lives of Christ and the Virgin. The relationship of sphragistic iconography to that of the minor arts was taken up by Alicia Bank when comparing the paired images of military saints found on both seals and steatite carvings.