The ekdikoi of Hagia Sophia, late 11th-12th century. Seal (Lead, 76 mm, 208.29 g, 12 h). I૪VCTINIAN ΔЄC (on the left) ΘKЄ - ΠO/TH (above) ROHΘЄI (on the right) H A/ΓIA COΦIA (vertically in the center) ('The emperor Justinian. Mother of God help...') The Mother of God, on the left, nimbate, and the emperor Justinian I, on the right, nimbate, wearing loros, both holding between them the Hagia Sophia. Rev. +TOIC ΘEO/CERECTA/TOIC ΠPEC/RVTЄPOIC / KAI EKKΛH/CЄKΔIK ('...the most pious priests and ekklesiekdikoi') in six lines with decorations above. Sternberg XIX (1987), 1016. Zacos II 70. Extremely rare and of great historical importance. A beautiful and exceptionally large and heavy seal. Light doubling on the obverse, otherwise, extremely fine.

Hagia Sophia is the largest, best preserved and most famous Byzantine church ever built. Constructed at the order of Justinian I (527-565), its architects Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles explored the limits of what was possible in ancient architecture and created the world's largest interior space and the first fully pendentive dome. Nearly fifteen hundred years of renovations and political changes - in particular the numerous reparations after damages by earthquakes and the addition of four tall minarets after the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453 - have substantially changed the looks of the building compared to its original state when it was first completed in 537. Nonetheless, the magnificent construction retains its beauty and monumentality and still boasts the fifth largest church dome in the world today.

This impressive seal presents us on the obverse an image of the Mother of God and Justinian I holding Hagia Sophia in their hands. It was struck in the late 11th or early 12th century in the name of the priests who formed the tribunal of the patriarch and were named ekdikoi or ekklesiekdikoi. They were presided over by a protekdikos and their sessions took place in Hagia Sophia. Their seals were traditionally of large module, allowing the die-cutters to produce detailed and impressive iconography. This magnificent example was struck on a particularly large flan and must be one of the heaviest and largest Byzantine seals ever produced