Sigillography and Digital Databases

Undoubtely, we are currently living in the digital age, which has firmly established itself even within the field of the humanities. Nearly all contemporary research proposals in the fields of Byzantine History and Sigillography now aim at and promise the development of databases. The creation of such databases requires collaboration between historians and IT specialists, rendering each project an interdisciplinary endeavor. The results of these databases are useful, as they allow for immediate retrieval of data using multiple filters—a feature that shortens research time and provides a quick, direct, and clear picture of historical figures, phenomena, or sources. However, basic research remains irreplaceable and is the foundation of every such project. In this presentation, we will attempt to describe the current state of the main digital sigillographic databases—both general and specialized—their advantages and disadvantages, and future prospects, based on our experience with the databases developed in Thessaloniki