Lykastos hypatos, imperial spatharios and strategos of Cephalonia (eighth century)
Obverse
Inscription of five lines, cross between tendrils above and below. Wreath Border.
ΓΙΤΡ
ΙΣΟΘ ΣΗ
ΜΝΒΟΗ
ΘΗΤΔΟ
ΥΛΣΟΥ
Ἁγία Τριάς, ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, βοήθη τῷ δούλῳ σου
Reverse
Inscription of six lines, with traces of a cross between tendrils above. Wreath border.
ΛΥΚΣΤ
ΥΠΤ
ΒΣΠΘ
ΤΡΑΤΗΓ
ΚΕΦΛ
ΙΣ
Λυκάστῳ ὑπάτῳ, βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Κεφαληνίας
Obverse
Inscription of five lines, cross between tendrils above and below. Wreath Border.
ΓΙΤΡ
ΙΣΟΘ ΣΗ
ΜΝΒΟΗ
ΘΗΤΔΟ
ΥΛΣΟΥ
Ἁγία Τριάς, ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, βοήθη τῷ δούλῳ σου
Reverse
Inscription of six lines, with traces of a cross between tendrils above. Wreath border.
ΛΥΚΣΤ
ΥΠΤ
ΒΣΠΘ
ΤΡΑΤΗΓ
ΚΕΦΛ
ΙΣ
Λυκάστῳ ὑπάτῳ, βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Κεφαληνίας
| Accession number | BZS.1955.1.2044 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 30.0 mm; field: 28.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 2, no. 1.15a. |
Translation
Ἁγία Τριάς, ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, βοήθη τῷ δούλῳ σου Λυκάστῳ ὑπάτῳ, βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Κεφαληνίας.
Holy Trinity, our God, help your servant Lykastos, hypatos, imperial spatharios and strategos of Cephalonia.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- De Administrando Imperio (Open in Zotero)
- Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio (Open in Zotero)
- De Thematibus (Open in Zotero)
- Les sceaux byzantins du Médaillier Vatican (Open in Zotero)
- Constantin VII et les thèmes de Céphalonie et de Longobardie (Open in Zotero)
- La dominazione bizantina nell’Italia meridionale dal IX al XI secolo (Open in Zotero)
- 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)
- Die sphragistischen Quellen zum byzantinischen Thema Nikopolis (Open in Zotero)
- Les îles de l’empire byzantin: VIIIe-XIIe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- The Kommerkiarios, the Apotheke, the Dromos, the Vardarios and the West (Open in Zotero)
- Katalog molivdovulov (Open in Zotero)
- Le maître des requêtes: ὁ ἐπὶ τῶν δεήσεων (Open in Zotero)
- Titres et fonctions de l’Empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Hagiographical Notes (Open in Zotero)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- Nikopolis und Kephallenia (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
- Sceaux byzantins du musée de Constantinople (Open in Zotero)
Parallel Seals
Similar Seals
- Lykastos hypatos, imperial spatharios and strategos of Cephalonia (eighth century)
- Lykastos hypatos, imperial spatharios and strategos of Cephalonia (eighth century)
- Lykastos hypatos, imperial spatharios and strategos of Cephalonia (eighth century)
- Lykastos hypatos imperial spatharios and strategos (eighth century)
Commentary
This is one of four seals from the same boulloterion that have been edited jointly. See also BZS 1955.1.2045, 1955.1.2046, 1955.1.2047.
Line 4 (rev.): the engraver has erred and neglected to carve a sigma at the beginning of the line. Cf. DO Seals 2, nos. 22.23 and 22.27.
The 8th-century date of this specimen is confirmed by the epigraphy. Also, on several of these specimens (ours as well as the two that will be mentioned in what follows) a cross between tendrils can be clearly discerned on the reverse above the inscription, further evidence of an 8th-century date. Moreover, the combination of Lykastos' titles, with hypatos preceding spatharios, also points to an early date before the devaluation of the honorary hypatoi, which occured before the mid-9th century (cf. Zacos-Veglery, 629). The same combination, hypatos, imperial spatharios and strategos of Cephalonia, appears also on a seal of the museum at Istanbul (Ebersolt, Sceaux, no. 542): as the owner's name is not deciphered, we cannot determine whether it is a parallel specimen to ours.
Pančenko (Katalog, no. 408, pl. V, fig. 4) published the seal of a strategos of Cephalonia names Lykastos (name read correctly by Laurent, Vatican, 96), bearing the titles of hypatos and "[imperial] kou[bikoularios]." The latter reading is in need of emendation: what he took as a Κ followed by the ligature (unattested before the 11th century), should be read as an Α followed by an imperfectly inscribed Θ. The correct reading of the reverse is thus: Λυκάστῳ ὑπάτῳ, βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Κεφαληνίας. As for the inscription on the obverse, it appears that Pančenko correctly read it as: Κύριε ὁ Θεός, βοήθη τῷ δούλῳ σου. Since the Pančenko specimen is also dated because of its epigraphic traits to the 8th century and reproduces the same name and titles as the DO specimens, we may be reasonably certain that all belonged to the same official.
Another parallel specimen was published by Konstantopoulos (no. 111, cf. W. Seibt, in ByzSl 36 [1975] 211). It seems to start with an invocation to Ἁγία (and not Παναγία Τριάς, but is otherwise very close to our specimens (f) and (g) and has prompted us to restore the spelling Κεφαλωνίας. It also belonged to the same official.
Zacos-Veglery (nos. 917, 918) have published further seals of the same Lykastos, hypatos, imperial spatharios (and strategos), all characteristically starting with an invocation to the Holy Trinity. Yet the Pančenko specimen shows that at a certain moment Lykastos decided to replace this invocation with something simpler and presumably less provocatively iconoclastic than the invocation to the Trinity. Would this indicate a change of regime? On the other hand, there is no reason to rule out the career of Lykastos coincided with the reign and the death (775) of Constantine V, the most radically iconoclastic emperor.
For the name of Lykastos, see C. Amantos, "Κεφαλληνιακὰ ἐπώνυμα," Hellenika 10 (1937/38) 117-18.