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Niketas patrikios and strategos of Sicily (eighth/ninth century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ|ΔΛ. No visible border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, perhaps a cross above and a tendril at the last line. No visible border.


ΝΙΚΗΤ
ΠΤΡΙΚΙ
Κ/ΣΤΡΤ/
ΣΙΚΕΛ

Νικήτᾳ πατρικίῳ κ(αὶ) στρατ(ηγῷ) Σικελ(ίας)

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ|ΔΛ. No visible border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines, perhaps a cross above and a tendril at the last line. No visible border.


ΝΙΚΗΤ
ΠΤΡΙΚΙ
Κ/ΣΤΡΤ/
ΣΙΚΕΛ

Νικήτᾳ πατρικίῳ κ(αὶ) στρατ(ηγῷ) Σικελ(ίας)

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1276
Diameter 27.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 5.21. See also Zacos-Veglery, no. 2255.

Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Νικήτᾳ πατρικίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Σικελίας.

Theotokos, help your servant Niketas patrikios and strategos of Sicily.

Commentary

The letter forms are similar to those found on DO Seals 1, no. 5.20 (BZS 1955.1.1102 and 1958.106.5291), and so it is possible that the same Niketas issued both seals.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • La dominazione bizantina nell’Italia meridionale dal IX al XI secolo (Open in Zotero)
  • L’amministrazione del tema de Sicilia (Open in Zotero)
  • La Sicile byzantine: État de recherches (Open in Zotero)
  • Une liste arabe des stratèges du thème de Sicile (Open in Zotero)
  • Une source peu étudiée de l’histoire de la Sicile au haut Moyen-Age: La sigillographie byzantine (Open in Zotero)
  • Storia della Sicilia, Vol. 3, La Sicilia fra Roma e Bisanzio (Open in Zotero)
  • Theophanes Continuatus, Ioannes Cameniata, Symeon Magister, Georgius Monachus (Open in Zotero)