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Leo (?) imperial spatharios and strategos of the Stromon (ninth century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (of indeterminate type); in the lower quarters: ΔΛ. Wreath border.

Κύριε or Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription. No visible border.

....
ΤΙΒ/ΣΠ.
ΣΤΡ/Τ
ΣΤΡΟΜ

Λέοντι βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ τοῦ Στρομόνος

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (of indeterminate type); in the lower quarters: ΔΛ. Wreath border.

Κύριε or Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription. No visible border.

....
ΤΙΒ/ΣΠ.
ΣΤΡ/Τ
ΣΤΡΟΜ

Λέοντι βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ τοῦ Στρομόνος

Accession number BZS.1958.106.1018
Diameter 21.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 37.3.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 2659.

Translation

Κύριε or Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Λέοντι βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ τοῦ Στρομόνος.

Lord or Theotokos, help your servant Leo imperial spatharios and strategos of the Stromon.

Commentary

The owner's name should be restored as Λέοντι rather than the less frequent and too long Κλήμεντι. The presence of a beta with two loops at the base of the monogram on the obverse and another in line 2 of the reverse, as well as the use of a wreath border, leads us to conclude that this seal was struck before the mid-ninth century.

Bibliography