Eustratios (Romaios?) spatharokandidatos and kommerkiarios of Persthlavitza (eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin holding Christ. Sigla: ΜΡΘ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of six lines preceded by an ornament. Border of dots.
·
ΕΥΣΤΡ
ΣΠΑΘ,Κ,Δ.
ΚΟΜΕΡΚ.
ΠΕΡΣΘΛΑ
.ΑΣΤΟ
.ΩΜ
Εὐστρ(ατίῳ) σπαθ(αρο)κ(αν)δ(ι)[δ(άτῳ)] (καὶ) κομερκ(ια)[ρ(ίῳ)] Περσθλά[β(ι)]τζας το [Ῥ]ωμαίῳ (?)
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin holding Christ. Sigla: ΜΡΘ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of six lines preceded by an ornament. Border of dots.
·
ΕΥΣΤΡ
ΣΠΑΘ,Κ,Δ.
ΚΟΜΕΡΚ.
ΠΕΡΣΘΛΑ
.ΑΣΤΟ
.ΩΜ
Εὐστρ(ατίῳ) σπαθ(αρο)κ(αν)δ(ι)[δ(άτῳ)] (καὶ) κομερκ(ια)[ρ(ίῳ)] Περσθλά[β(ι)]τζας το [Ῥ]ωμαίῳ (?)
| Accession number | BZS.1947.2.2128 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 19.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 1, no. 78.1a. See also Oikonomides, Presthlavitza, no. 5 (a-b). |
| Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Εὐστρατίῳ σπαθαροκανδιδάτῳ καὶ κομερκιαρίῳ Περσθλάβιτζας το Ῥωμαίῳ (?).
Eustratios Romaios (?), spatharokandidatos and kommerkiarios of Persthlavitza.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
- Presthlavitza, the Little Preslav (Open in Zotero)
- Où se trouvait Théodoroupolis, nom consigné sur certains sceaux du Grand Preslav (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
The reading of this seal has been restored on the basis of its better preserved parallel from the same boulloterion: BZS 1951.31.5.1750.
In the sigla (obv.), the word Θεοῦ appears in an unusual ligature. The reading of the family name is not certain, but the name Ρωμαῖος is well attested (Oikonomides, Presthlavitza, 3 note 9).
The literature concerning the location of "Little Preslav" was summarized in Oikonomides, Presthlavitza. The city could be placed at the mouth of the Danube River (at Prislava = Nufǎrul?). Established with its own strategos (DO Seals 1, no. 78.4), the city probably served as an entrepôt in trade between the Byzantines and the Rus during an eleventh century (hence the many seals of kommerkiarioi), only to decline in the twelfth, perhaps due to the development of new trade routes. Jordanov proposed that Preslavitza was also named Theodoroupolis by John Tzimiskes in 971, a name that discarded when the city was recaptured by the Bulgars: I. Jordanov, "Koj bŭlgarski grad e bil narečen Teodoropol?" Vekove [1983] 58-62. But this point of view has been challenged by P. Diaconu, "Où se trouvait Théodoroupolis, nom consigné sur certains sceaux du Grand Preslav?" Vtori meždunaroden kongres po bŭlgaristika, Dokladi 6 (Sofia, 1987) 437-47.