ABSTRACT
Lead seals served a variety of purposes in Byzantium: to guarantee the privacy of correspondence; to validate official documents; to function as the counter-signature of a superior official by conveying authority on the issuance of his/her subordinates. The largest number of surviving lead seals bear inscriptions on both their obverse and reverse, often beginning with an invocation, such as “Lord, help” or “Theotokos, help,” d include the name of the owner and frequently the owner’s office or title. The final victory of the Iconophiles in 843, Patriarch Methodios placed the image of the Theotokos on his seal, and his successors would do so as well. After the final Iconophile victory in 843, a pattern of imperial and patriarchal sphragistic iconography appears. The emperor places an image of Christ on his seals, not that of the Virgin as before.
