Uncertain, 6th-7th centuries. Seal (Lead, 19 mm, 6.80 g, 12 h). TOPIA Bear running left. Rev. Uncertain cruciform monogram. Unpublished in the standard references. An intriguing seal with extremely rare secular iconography and a beautifully engraved bear. Good very fine.



This highly unusual seal features a beautifully crafted bear running to the left. Two ropes flutter above its back, likely indicating that it is a runaway animal. Unfortunately, the meaning of this depiction remains elusive, but it is probably secular rather than biblical. One possibility is that it alludes to the last surviving traces of traditional Roman animal hunts, brutal grand spectacles once held in the Empire’s great arenas. These events were increasingly displaced by Christianity but were still occasionally held in the 6th century before being completely abolished. In any case, this is undoubtedly one of the most artistically refined depictions of an animal found on Byzantine lead seals, rivaling the finest Roman tesserae from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD.