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The imperial kommerkia of Thessalonica (738/9)

 
 

Obverse

Half-length representations of Justinian II (left), bearded, and Tiberios, beardless, holding a long cross on a rectangular base between them (the child's hand above the father's). No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription. No visible border.

ΑΣΙΛΙΚ
ΝΚΟΜΜΕ
.ΚΙΝΘΕ
ΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΙ
ΣΖ

Τῶν βασιλικῶν κομμερκίων Θεσαλονίκις. Ἰνδικτιὼν ζˊ

Obverse

Half-length representations of Justinian II (left), bearded, and Tiberios, beardless, holding a long cross on a rectangular base between them (the child's hand above the father's). No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription. No visible border.

ΑΣΙΛΙΚ
ΝΚΟΜΜΕ
.ΚΙΝΘΕ
ΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΙ
ΣΖ

Τῶν βασιλικῶν κομμερκίων Θεσαλονίκις. Ἰνδικτιὼν ζˊ

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4399
Diameter 27.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 18.28.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 255a.

Translation

Τῶν βασιλικῶν κομμερκίων Θεσαλονίκις. Ἰνδικτιὼν ζˊ.

(Seal) of the imperial kommerkia of Thessalonica. Indiction 7.

Commentary

This seal and DO Seals 1, no. 18.29 were issued by the same office in the same year but are from different boulloteria and bear slightly different inscriptions. They are therefore published separately. The seals of imperial kommerkia (730/1-832/3), listed by Zacos-Veglery, 192-97, seem to come from offices run by state officials for the state (and not by tax farmers): see Oikonomides, Kommerkiarioi, 41.

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)
  • Silk Trade and Production in Byzantium from the Sixth to the Ninth Century: The Seals of Kommerkiarioi (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Bleisiegel in Berlin (West) (Open in Zotero)
  • Le kommerkion d’Abydos, Thessalonique et le commerce bulgare du 9e siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Recherches sur les douanes à Byzance: L’octava, le "kommerkion" et les commerciares (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de Saint Démétrius et la pénétration des Slaves dans les Balkans (Open in Zotero)
  • L’éparque de Thessalonique: les origines d'une institution administrative (VIIIe-IXe siècles) (Open in Zotero)