Glossary

Blank: Lead roundel with a channel; receives the imprint of the boulloterion's dies.

Boulloterion (plural: boulloteria): The pliers-shaped instrument with which the Byzantines struck the lead blank disks in order to imprint the seal.

Channel: A hollow channel that went through the blank lead disks; a cord was threaded through it before the blank was struck with the boulloterion.

Medallion: A round or oval frame containing the picture of Christ, represented on the breast of some types of the Mother of God.

Office: Term used her to indicate an actual administrative position.

Sigla: The usual abbreviated form of names of a holy person such as Christ or the Mother of God.

Title: Term used here to indicate a lifelong honorific title, which the Byzantines called ἀξία διὰ βαρβείου.