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Leo protospatharios and chartoularios of the Thrakesioi (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Faint outline of a military saint. In his left hand he holds his sword resting with point on the ground; his right hand is extended as though holding a spear or a labarum (and in fact, a poorly preserved top of a labarum can be seen as the uppermost part of the seal). No inscription visible. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines preceded and followed by decoration. Border of dots.

 ·
κε,θ,
λεοντ,
α̅σπαθ
χτλ,τω
θρακσ
 ·

Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) Λέοντ(ι) (πρωτο)σπαθ(αρίῳ) (καὶ) χ(αρ)τουλ(αρίῳ) τῶ(ν) Θρᾳκ(η)σ(ιών)

Obverse

Faint outline of a military saint. In his left hand he holds his sword resting with point on the ground; his right hand is extended as though holding a spear or a labarum (and in fact, a poorly preserved top of a labarum can be seen as the uppermost part of the seal). No inscription visible. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines preceded and followed by decoration. Border of dots.

 ·
κε,θ,
λεοντ,
α̅σπαθ
χτλ,τω
θρακσ
 ·

Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) Λέοντ(ι) (πρωτο)σπαθ(αρίῳ) (καὶ) χ(αρ)τουλ(αρίῳ) τῶ(ν) Θρᾳκ(η)σ(ιών)

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.831
Diameter 26.0 mm; field: 21.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 2.2.

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει Λέοντι πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ χαρτουλαρίῳ τῶν Θρᾳκησίων.

Lord, help Leo, protospatharios and chartoularios of the Thrakesioi.

Commentary

The image on the obverse closely resembles the portrait of Emperor Isaakios I Komnenos on his class I gold coins (Grierson, Catalogue, III/2, pl. LXIII, 1.2 and 1.3). Despite the seal's poor state of preservation, the lower edge of the armor and of the cloak remains visible. The similarity is so close that the seal should be assigned to the late 1050s, but we do not have any particular explanation for the choice of this unusual iconography by an official who, after all, belonged to the rank and file of his service.

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)
  • Constantini Porphyrogeniti De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional, and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900 (Open in Zotero)
  • Theophanis Chronographia (Open in Zotero)
  • L’histoire et la géographie de la région de Smyrne entre les deux occupations turques (1081-1317), particulièrement au XIIIe siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • “Thrakien” und “Thrakesion” (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, Vol. 3, Leo III to Nicephorus III (717–1081) (Open in Zotero)