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Philaretos illoustrios, exaktor and judge of the East (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Inscription of five lines followed by an ornament. Border of dots.

ΚΡ,ΤΗΣ
ΕΣΦΙ
ΛΡΕΤ,Σ
ΕΞΚ
ΤΡ
 

κρ(ι)τὴς Ἐώας Φιλάρετ(ο)ς ἐξάκτωρ

Reverse

Inscription of five lines preceded and followed by an ornament. Border of dots.

  
.ΛΛΟΥ,
.ΤΡΙΟΣ
.ΣΥΜΟ
ΛΟΝΦΕ
.ΤΟΔΕ
 

[ἰ]λλού[σ]τριός [τε] σύμβολον φέ[ρ(ει)] τόδε

Obverse

Inscription of five lines followed by an ornament. Border of dots.

ΚΡ,ΤΗΣ
ΕΣΦΙ
ΛΡΕΤ,Σ
ΕΞΚ
ΤΡ
 

κρ(ι)τὴς Ἐώας Φιλάρετ(ο)ς ἐξάκτωρ

Reverse

Inscription of five lines preceded and followed by an ornament. Border of dots.

  
.ΛΛΟΥ,
.ΤΡΙΟΣ
.ΣΥΜΟ
ΛΟΝΦΕ
.ΤΟΔΕ
 

[ἰ]λλού[σ]τριός [τε] σύμβολον φέ[ρ(ει)] τόδε

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.139
Diameter 30.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 86.34. See also Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden I, no. 1151.

Translation

κριτὴς Ἐώας Φιλάρετος ἐξάκτωρ ἰλλούστριός τε σύμβολον φέρει τόδε.

The judge of the East, Philaretos, exactor and illoustrios, bears this token.

Commentary

Two correct twelve-syllable verses. For the judicial office of exaktor and the archaic title of illoustrios (typical of the mid-11th century), see Listes, 325-26; TM 6 (1976), 134, note 54. We consider that this Philaretos (who most probably has nothing to do with his famous Armenian namesake Brachamios, who became doux of Antioch) was a judge of the theme of the Anatolikoi and that he used the non-technical word Ἐώας ("East") in place of the intractable "Anatolikoi" to fit the metrics. This would account for a title that otherwise defies explanation, since in the eleventh century the judge had authority over a given province, not the entire "east" as this inscription at first sight suggests.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan (Open in Zotero)
  • Sceaux byzantins du Musée National de Varsovie (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 1, Siegellegenden von Alpha bis inclusive My (Open in Zotero)