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Nikephoros, (nephew or son of the) skeuophylax (tenth/eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Inscription in four lines. No visible border.

Χ̅Ε
σκεπε
κηφ.
ρ..

Ὦ Χριστὲ σκέπε Νηκηφ[ό]ρ[ου]

Reverse

Inscription in four lines. Border of dots.

..τ
.κευο
φυλα
κοσ

[τὸν] τοῦ [σ]κευοφύλακος

Obverse

Inscription in four lines. No visible border.

Χ̅Ε
σκεπε
κηφ.
ρ..

Ὦ Χριστὲ σκέπε Νηκηφ[ό]ρ[ου]

Reverse

Inscription in four lines. Border of dots.

..τ
.κευο
φυλα
κοσ

[τὸν] τοῦ [σ]κευοφύλακος

Accession number BZS.1958.106.78
Diameter 26.0 mm; field: 18.0 mm
Previous Editions

Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 80.

Translation

Ὦ Χριστὲ σκέπε Νικηφόρου τὸν τοῦ σκευοφύλακος.

O Christ, protect Nikephoros, (nephew or son) of the skeuophylax.

Commentary

The name Nikephoros is confirmed by the parallel seal. Laurent read the reverse as τοῦ σοῦ, and thus read the seal as simply of Nikephoros the skeuophylax, but the parallel makes it clear that it is τὸν τοῦ, and thus we are dealing with a relation--likely a nephew or even a son--of the skeuophylax. He did not connect the parallel of this seal, which he read correctly in his unpublished catalogue of the Shaw collection, this one. Moreover, Laurent dates this seal to the 10th/11th century but its parallel to the 12th--we have stuck here with the published date of this seal.

This inscription is odd in that it takes the form of a metrical inscription (with the vocative and σκέπε) without actually being metrical.

Bibliography