Signet Ring of John, Imperial Spatharios

Signet Ring of John, Imperial Spatharios

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The title spatharios, Sword-Bearer, was originally an honor reserved for the imperial bodyguard. By the middle Byzantine period, it had become an honorific title only, indicating Ioannis’s respectable status.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Signet Ring of John, Imperial SpathariosSignet Ring of John, Imperial SpathariosSignet Ring of John, Imperial SpathariosSignet Ring of John, Imperial SpathariosSignet Ring of John, Imperial Spatharios

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.