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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Gary Waddingham, post: 2721518, member: 73648&quot;]The manus dei or hand of God is an artistic convention first seen on some of the posthumous coins of Constantine the Great. Here a chariot with several horses and presumably driven by Constantine himself is received by God represented by the hand of God. The other picture is of an anonymous Byzantine seal of the 11th-12th century which shows us the manus dei in a different context. Mary is shown orans (praying with outstretched hands) from the side with her face partially turned to the viewer. The hand of God is in the upper right. The usual thing is that there is no representation of the infant Christ in any of the myriad ways usually found with Mary. This is called the Theotokos Hagiosoritissa which has to do indirectly with the pose and directly with a church of Mary that supposedly contained the cincture of her garment. In the upper right field; to her left and right we find MHP- ΘV (Mary Theotokos). On the reverse:</p><p>U CΦPA | ΓIC EIMI | THN ΓPAΦ | HN OPWI | MAΘ in five lines.</p><p>“Observe the documents to learn whose seal I am”. Hence this is an anonymous seal since one has to break the seal and read the document before ascertaining from whom it comes.&quot;[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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