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Leo Skleros, magistros, vestes, vestarches and judge of Aigaion Pelagos (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans with the medallion. Sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Along the upper border of dots, an inscription:

ΘΚΕΘΤΣΔ,

Θ(εοτό)κε β(οή)θ(ει) τῷ σῷ δ(ούλῳ)

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of tight dots.

ΛΕΟΝΤΙ
ΜΑΓΙΣΤΡ
ΕΣΤΕΣΤΑΡ
..SΚΡΙΤ,ΤΕΓ,
.ΠΕΛΑΓΣ
.ΣΚΛΗΡ,

Λέοντι μαγίστρῳ, βέστ(ῃ), βεστάρ[χῃ], (καὶ) κριτ(ῇ) τοῦ Ἐγ(αί)[ου] Πελάγους [τ]ῷ Σκληρ(ῷ)

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans with the medallion. Sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Along the upper border of dots, an inscription:

ΘΚΕΘΤΣΔ,

Θ(εοτό)κε β(οή)θ(ει) τῷ σῷ δ(ούλῳ)

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of tight dots.

ΛΕΟΝΤΙ
ΜΑΓΙΣΤΡ
ΕΣΤΕΣΤΑΡ
..SΚΡΙΤ,ΤΕΓ,
.ΠΕΛΑΓΣ
.ΣΚΛΗΡ,

Λέοντι μαγίστρῳ, βέστ(ῃ), βεστάρ[χῃ], (καὶ) κριτ(ῇ) τοῦ Ἐγ(αί)[ου] Πελάγους [τ]ῷ Σκληρ(ῷ)

Accession number BZS.1958.106.1677
Diameter 29.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 40.15a.
Cf. parallel specimens in Athens (Konstantopoulos, no. 98a) and in the Lihačev Collection (Lihačev, IZIGI, 91); republished by Seibt, Skleroi, no. 20 (pl. 4, nos. 13, 14).

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Λέοντι μαγίστρῳ, βέστῃ, βεστάρχῃ, καὶ κριτῇ τοῦ Ἐγαίου Πελάγους τῷ Σκληρῷ.

Theotokos, help your servant Leo Skleros, magistros, vestes, vestarches and judge of Aigaion Pelagos.

Commentary

Our specimen (b) seems to be close to the Lihačev specimen; on our specimen (a), which reproduces the same imagery and inscription with the same layout, the letters are slightly thicker but occupy practically the same width. Both seem to come from the same, retooled boulloterion.

The combination of the honorific titles is very unusual, especially the fact that the theoretically superior title of vestarches is mentioned after that of vestes (Listes, 294, 299-300). Perhaps we should read βεστοβεστάρχῃ and understand the vestarches at the head of the vestes (as opposed to the protovestai, cf. Oikonomides, Évolution, 126); or does it refer to a vestarches at the head of a different service? The question remains open. Seibt (Skleroi, no. 20) has assembled the late eleventh century seals belonging to a Leo Skleros and laid out a cursus honorum.

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)
  • Βυζαντιακὰ μολυβδόβουλλα τοῦ ἐν ἈΘήναις Ἐθνικοῦ Νομισματικοῦ Μουσείου (Open in Zotero)
  • Istoriceskoe znacenie italo-greceskoj ikonopisi: Izobra zenija Bogomatera v prozvedenijah italo-greceskih ikonopiscev i ih vlijanie na kompozicii nekotoryh proslavlennyh russkih ikon (Open in Zotero)
  • Die Skleroi: Eine prosopographisch-sigillographische Studie (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • L’évolution de l’organisation administrative de l’empire byzantin au XIe siècle (1025–1118) (Open in Zotero)
  • Methodii Patriarchae Constantinopolitani Vita S. Theophanis Confessoris: e codice mosquensi no. 159 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)