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Constantine Monomachos, grand chartoularios and judge of the Opsikion (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. George holding spear in his right hand and shield in his left hand. Inscription on either side: : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Γ(εώργιος). Circular inscription along a border of dots:

...οηθειτσδουλ,

[Κ(ύρι)ε β]οήθει τῷ σῷ δούλ(ῳ)

Reverse

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

Κ̅̅Ν
τχSκρι
τ,τοψι..
.τμ
νομαχ,
·

Κων(σταντίνῳ) μ(ε)γ(άλῳ) χ(αρ)τ(ουλαρίῳ) (καὶ) κριτ(ῇ) τοῦ Ὀψι[κίου] τῷ Μονομάχ(ῳ)

Obverse

Bust of St. George holding spear in his right hand and shield in his left hand. Inscription on either side: : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Γ(εώργιος). Circular inscription along a border of dots:

...οηθειτσδουλ,

[Κ(ύρι)ε β]οήθει τῷ σῷ δούλ(ῳ)

Reverse

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

Κ̅̅Ν
τχSκρι
τ,τοψι..
.τμ
νομαχ,
·

Κων(σταντίνῳ) μ(ε)γ(άλῳ) χ(αρ)τ(ουλαρίῳ) (καὶ) κριτ(ῇ) τοῦ Ὀψι[κίου] τῷ Μονομάχ(ῳ)

Accession number BZS.1958.106.1436
Diameter 19.0 mm; field: 14.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 39.10. See also PBW : Konstantinos 9.

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Κωνσταντίνῳ μεγάλῳ χαρτουλαρίῳ καὶ κριτῇ τοῦ Ὀψικίου τῷ Μονομάχῳ.

Lord, help your servant Constantine Monomachos, grand chartoularios and judge of the Opsikion.

Commentary

The owner of the present seal could be identical to the future emperor Constantine IX Monomachos, who once served as judge in Hellas (Skylitzes, 423). We have the eleventh-century seal of a Constantine Monomachos, protospatharios and logothete ton agelon, also decorated with a bust of St. George (SBS 3 [1993] 187); another Constantine Monomachos, protospatharios and protonotarios of the Bοukellarioi, likewise decorated with a bust of St. George (1951.31.5.1006); and a private seal with St. George standing. The monogram of Monomachos was found in Pergamon (Athenische Mitteilungen 32 [1907] 406). The attachment of Constantine IX Monomachos to St. George, well known from his foundation of the monastery of Mangana, was probably related to the fact that he possessed a talisman which contained a piece of St. George's sword (NE 8 [1911] 128).

Opsikion was one of the earliest themes of Byzantium; its name from the term obsequium (retinue), often called "imperial obsequium guarded by God." Its territory included many provinces and initially encompassed all northwestern Asia Minor; by the mid-eighth century it was subdivided, and the new themes of the Boukellarioi and of the Optimatoi appeared. All three names show that the origins of this theme are to be sought in the regiments of the imperial guard, and according to some scholars, to the milites praesentales of the fifth century.

The commander of Opsikion traditionally bore the titles of komes, probably because initially he was identical to the comes domesticorum. He is first attested in 626 (perhaps already in 615), and, because of his proximity to Constantinople (his residence was in Nicaea), he played an important role in imperial politics. As this happened regularly with all units of the imperial guard, the tagmata (Listes, 329), the second in command of the Opsikion was called for quite some time a topoteretes (cf. Zacos-Veglery, no. 1762). The province was organized as all other themes (with tourmarchai, anagrapheis, judges, protonotarioi, chartoularioi, strateutai [Laurent, Orghidan, no. 218], etc.), and, already in the ninth century, the commander was also called a strategos (see Listes, 264, footnote 23; Zacos, Seals II, no. 850; Seyrig, no. 191).

The littoral of the Opsikion was also part of the theme of Aigaion Pelagos.

See Pertusi, in De Them., 127-30; Winkelmann, Ämsterstruktur, 72-76, 119-20; ODB III, 1528-29; Haldon, Praetorians, passim, esp. 164 ff; T. Lounghis, "A Deo conservandum imperiale Obsequium," ByzSl 52 (1991) 54-60.

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)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan (Open in Zotero)
  • Les sceaux byzantins de la Collection Henri Seyrig (Open in Zotero)
  • De Thematibus (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional, and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900 (Open in Zotero)
  • A Deo conservandum imperiale Obsequium: Some Notes Concering Byzantine Field Troops during the Dark Ages (Open in Zotero)
  • Studies in Byzantine Sigillography (Open in Zotero)