Clement Sibilian (Կղեմէս Սիպիլեան)

17-Feb-1824 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire

23-May-1878 Tigranocerta (Diyarbakir)

Father Clement Sibilian was born on February 17, 1824, in Constantinople. His Christian name was Mkrtich. At age fourteen, he entered the monastery of the Vienna Mekhitarists; four years later, on May 14, 1842, he joined this Armenian Catholic order, and on November 5, 1845, he was ordained celibate priest with the name Kghemes (Clement).

Already by 1825, the Right Reverend Abbot Aristakes Azarian had started collecting ancient coins. While Fr. Sibilian was a student at the monastery, a course in ancient numismatics was offered. In his letters Sibilian gratefully acknowledges the debt he owed to Fr. Azarian for awakening his interest in numismatics.

From 1847 to 1849 Fr. Clement traveled throughout Asia Minor during and after which trip he continued his study of coins. While in Smyrna from 1853 to 1855, he concluded an agreement with the English consul and numismatist Borrell to organize a joint expedition to Cilicia at the expense of the consul with the understanding that all archeological materials unearthed would be divided equally, but unfortunately his superiors transferred him to Constantinople. In 1856 he journeyed via Karin (Erzeroum) to Persia to assume the religious responsibility of the Armenian Catholic community for a twelve year period. During this time, in addition to his religious ministry, he pursued numismatic research, making extensive trips from Van to Khosrova, 1857; Tbilisi, 1861; Etchmiadzin, 1864; and after Khosrova, Shahan, and other areas. When his Persian mission ended in 1868 he returned to Constantinople and after 1870 to Vienna only to return again to Constantinople after a short lapse of time.

In 1875 he was chosen Corresponding Member of the Vienna Numismatic Society (Wiener Numismatische Gesellschaft) as a specialist in Greek and Armenian coins. The following year, Sultan Abdul Aziz, who so appreciated his work of classifying the coins and antiquities of the Ottoman Museum in Constantinople, appointed him Assistant Director of that museum.

In that same year, 1876, along with English archeologist Ancketill, he finally made his much longed for expedition to Cilicia. The next year the Ottoman government dispatched him to Mosul and Mesopotamia to collect antiquities for the museum. While he was passing through Aleppo and Severek, his body, weakened from these constant travels, contracted dysentery. He arrived at Tigranocerta (Diyarbakir) in very critical condition and eight days later on May 23, 1878, he sealed his life at age 54. He was buried in the Armenian Catholic cemetery of Diyarbakir.

From 1845 until his death, Sibilian produced a number of scholarly studies. In 1846 he started his detailed Numismatics of Roupenian Coins. After a trial publication of the first pages of this work, he realized that he possessed insufficient coin varieties of the various kings, and, therefore, decided to organize an expedition to collect more material for his monograph. Unfortunately, this treatise was never completed.

During the years 1851-1852, Fr. Clement published a series of essays on “Hitherto Unpublished Coins of the Roupenian Kings” in the Armenian newspaper Europa of Vienna. The same material was published with slight modifications in German as “Beschreibung von XVII noch unedirten Münzen der Armensich-Rubenischen Dynastie in Kilikien” in 1852. Beside these numismatic works, in 1851 again in Europa, he published two historical studies both in Armenian, “The Seclusion of Tiridates, His Last Days, and Death,” and “H. Cortez or the Conquest of Mexico;” both were later reprinted in book form.

Regrettably the manuscript of his twelve year travel diary to Armenia and Persia was burned in the great Constantinople fire of 1870. Happily, numerous letters pertaining to these travels have been preserved in Vienna and are published in part in this volume.

In 1860 an article entitled “Numismatique arménienne” was printed in the Revue de l’Orient. After his return from Asia Minor in 1870, he wrote “Numismatischer Ausflug von Constantinopel nach Bithynien und Paphlagonien,” and “A. Nachrichten über Münzfundorte in Persien. — B. Drei sehr seltene Münzen armenischer Dynasten.” During his stay in Constantinople he catalogued and published the 1953 ancient Greek coins of Subhy Pacha, Collection des médailles grecques autonomes de Son Excell. Subhy Pacha, à vendre au complet (Constantinople, 1874).

In addition, he wrote articles in Armenian on the Kurdish tribes of the Lake Van area and a geography textbook for elementary school children. He also gave numerous lectures and talks on Armenian coins.

In 1877, he reviewed for the last time the book he had been preparing for years, the Classification of Roupenian Coins, which was only published fifteen years later after careful editing by Fr. Kalemkiarian. To this publication was annexed, as a supplement, the articles from Europa mentioned above.

Due to his untiring efforts, the numismatic collection of the Vienna Mekhitarists almost reached 15,000 items during his own life time. Of these 2,232 were Cilician Armenian coins, 220 Arsacid, Roman, Greek, and ancient Armenian coins. His life’s work prepared the foundations for the continued study of Armenian numismatics.

Nercessian, Y. T. "Biography of Fr. Clement Sibilian." Armenian Numismatic Journal, Series 1, vol. 4, pp. 11-12, 1978.