Theodore proedros, strategos of the Thrakesioi and domestikos of the Schools of the East (eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of the Mother of God holding the Child. Sigla: ΘΥ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Along the upper border of dots, a circular inscription.
ΘΚΕΟΗΘΕΙ....ΔΛ,
Θ(εοτό)κε βοήθει [τῷ σῷ] δούλ(ῳ)
Reverse
Inscription of eight lines preceded by an ornament. Border of dots.
ΘΕΟΔΡ,
ΠΡΟΕΔΡ
ΣΤΡΑΤ.Γ
Τ...Α.ΗΣ
ΔΟ..ΣΤΙΚ
ΤΝΣΧΟΛΝ
ΤΗΣΑΝΑΤ
ΛΗΣ
Θεοδώρ(ῳ) προέδρῳ, στρατ[η]γῷ τῶ[ν Θρ]ᾳ[κ]ησ(ίων) (καὶ) δο[με]στίκ(ῳ) τῶν σχολῶν τῆς Ἀνατ(ο)λῆς
Obverse
Bust of the Mother of God holding the Child. Sigla: ΘΥ : Μή(τη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Along the upper border of dots, a circular inscription.
ΘΚΕΟΗΘΕΙ....ΔΛ,
Θ(εοτό)κε βοήθει [τῷ σῷ] δούλ(ῳ)
Reverse
Inscription of eight lines preceded by an ornament. Border of dots.
ΘΕΟΔΡ,
ΠΡΟΕΔΡ
ΣΤΡΑΤ.Γ
Τ...Α.ΗΣ
ΔΟ..ΣΤΙΚ
ΤΝΣΧΟΛΝ
ΤΗΣΑΝΑΤ
ΛΗΣ
Θεοδώρ(ῳ) προέδρῳ, στρατ[η]γῷ τῶ[ν Θρ]ᾳ[κ]ησ(ίων) (καὶ) δο[με]στίκ(ῳ) τῶν σχολῶν τῆς Ἀνατ(ο)λῆς
| Accession number | BZS.1947.2.196 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 30.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 99.9. |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Θεοδώρῳ προέδρῳ, στρατηγῷ τῶν Θρᾳκησίων καὶ δομεστίκῳ τῶν σχολῶν τῆς Ἀνατολῆς.
Theotokos, help your servant Theodore proedros, strategos of the Thrakesioi and domestikos of the Schools of the East.
Bibliography
- Recherches sur les institutions byzantines (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (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)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- Molivdovuly grečeskogo Vostoka (Open in Zotero)
- Les sceaux byzantins de la Collection Henri Seyrig (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
A Theodore proedros became domestikos of the Schools of the East in 1054 and probably kept this position until 1057: Guilland, Recherches I, 452-53. He could be identical to the owner of the present seal as well as of a specimen bearing the legend, "Theodore proedros and domestikos of the East" published in Zacos, Seals II, no. 1050.
From an administrative point of view, the term Anatole was used until the 10th century to indicate (a) the territories that had previously belonged to the praefectura praetorio per Orientem that is, essentially, all the themes of Asia Minor together with those of Thrace and Macedonia; or, more realistically, (b) the territories situated to the east of Constantinople, that is, Asia Minor. In the 10th century the army command of the East was separated from that of the West (that is, Europe), Listes, 329, 341-42; cf. Oikonomides, Évolution, 141-42 and AP 35 [1978] 300, 328-29. The seals published here (and some others, such as the one of the stratopedarches of the East: Zacos-Veglery, no. 2780; Lihačev, Molivdovuly, 104, pl. LXIII,9; Seyrig, no. 159; or the hikanatoi of the East: Seyrig, no. 154) show that in the 10th and eleventh centuries the entity called the East comprised only military commands.
It should be noted, however, that in some cases the term Anatole seems to have been used to indicate a strategos of the Anatolikoi (cf. Winkelmann, Ämterstruktur, 78-79); and several civilian officials defined as ton Anatolikon could well wave authority over territories covering the East, well beyond the boundaries of the theme (see DO Seals 3, § 86, nos. 86.9, 86.17, 86.34).
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