Dumbarton Oak’s latest exhibition, Lasting Impressions: People, Power, Piety explores the intriguing world of lead seals and impressions. In Byzantium lead seals were believed to have special apotropaic powers – in particular, they guarded documents and objects. Their designs and inscriptions were often personalised, and therefore they can tell us about individual stories and family histories and changing conceptions of status, piety, and family. ‘Each seal is a testament to someone living in the Byzantine Empire and no other single source provides so much information about such a broad range of individual Byzantines.’
Issue 66, December 2023
Turkey’s Centenary Issue
