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Apotheke of the imperial kommerkia of Helenopontos (695/7)

 
 

Obverse

Bearded emperor, Leontios, holding a globus cruciger in his right hand. Indictional signs on either side: -ι|. No traces of a circular inscription or border.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. No visible border.

αποθικ
ιστωνβα
σιλικονκ
ομερκιον
ελινοπ
οντ

Ἀποθίκις τῶν βασιλικον κομερκίον Ἑλινοπόντ[ου]

Obverse

Bearded emperor, Leontios, holding a globus cruciger in his right hand. Indictional signs on either side: -ι|. No traces of a circular inscription or border.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. No visible border.

αποθικ
ιστωνβα
σιλικονκ
ομερκιον
ελινοπ
οντ

Ἀποθίκις τῶν βασιλικον κομερκίον Ἑλινοπόντ[ου]

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4402
Diameter 36.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 4, no. 26.1.

Zacos-Veglery, no. 193.

Translation

Ἰ(νδικτιὼν) θ᾽   Ἰνδικτὼν ι᾽    Ἀποθίκις τῶν βασιλικον κομερκίον Ἑλινοπόντου.

Indiction 9.  Indiction 10.    Apotheke of the imperial kommerkia of Helenopontos.

Commentary

Zacos-Veglery believed that they could see remains of a circular inscription at left of the obvers : Γ..Ρ.... We are unable to detect these letters. In any event, we are not obliged to look for the name of a kommerkiarios on the present specimen because it belongs to a group of three, all isssued under Leontios and all impersonal, mentioning the imperial kommerkia of the apotheke. These seals have been interpreted as a proof that direct administration of several apothekai was taken over by the state because of the excessive favouritism during the last years of Justinian II. The seals of imperial kommerkia disappear after this emperor and reappear under the Isaurians in the 730ies. See Oikonomides, Kommerkiarioi, 41.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (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)