Petronas anthypatos, patrikios, imperial protospatharios and komes of the Opsikion (ninth century)
Obverse
Cruciform invocative monogram (type VIII). In the quarters: τω-σω|δ-λω. Indeterminate border.
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of five lines. Indeterminate border.
.ετρ.
.θυπ/ π
.ρικ/ R/ σπ
ρ/ Sκομι.
.οψηκιο.
[Π]ετρ[ον]ᾷ ἀ<ν>θυπ(άτῳ), πα[τ]ρικ(ίῳ), β(ασιλικῷ) (πρωτο)σπα[θ]αρ(ίῳ) (καὶ) κόμι[τ(ι) τ(οῦ)] Ὀψηκίο[υ]
Obverse
Cruciform invocative monogram (type VIII). In the quarters: τω-σω|δ-λω. Indeterminate border.
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of five lines. Indeterminate border.
.ετρ.
.θυπ/ π
.ρικ/ R/ σπ
ρ/ Sκομι.
.οψηκιο.
[Π]ετρ[ον]ᾷ ἀ<ν>θυπ(άτῳ), πα[τ]ρικ(ίῳ), β(ασιλικῷ) (πρωτο)σπα[θ]αρ(ίῳ) (καὶ) κόμι[τ(ι) τ(οῦ)] Ὀψηκίο[υ]
| Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.1358 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 28.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 39.35. See also Zacos-Veglery, no. 2607. |
| Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Πετρονᾷ ἀνθυπάτῳ, πατρικίῳ, βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ κόμιτι τοῦ Ὀψηκίου.
Lord, help your servant Petronas, anthypatos, patrikios, imperial protospatharios, and komes of the Opsikion.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
- Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan (Open in Zotero)
- Les sceaux byzantins de la Collection Henri Seyrig (Open in Zotero)
- De Thematibus (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional, and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900 (Open in Zotero)
- A Deo conservandum imperiale Obsequium: Some Notes Concering Byzantine Field Troops during the Dark Ages (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
This is a mid-ninth-century seal (cf. Dated Seals, no. 50 of 843-847), struck at a time when a famous Petronas, the brother of Empress Theodora, exercised other offices, such as strategos of the Thrakesion or domestikos ton scholon: Theophanes cont., 123; Genesios, 67-69. Two more seals with the same inscription as on the present specimen are found in: Zacos-Veglery, nos. 2574A, 3165.
Opsikion was one of the earliest themes of Byzantium; its name derives from the term obsequium (retinue), often called "imperial obsequium guarded by God." Its territory included many provinces and initially encompassed all northwestern Asia Minor; by the mid-eighth century it was subdivided, and the new themes of the Boukellarioi and of the Optimatoi appeared. All three names show that the origins of this theme are to be sought in the regiments of the imperial guard, and according to some scholars, to the milites praesentales of the fifth century.
The commander of Opsikion traditionally held the title of komes, probably because at first he was identical to the comes domesticorum. He is first attested in 626 (perhaps already in 615), and, because of his proximity to Constantinople (his residence was in Nicaea), he played an important role in imperial politics. As this happened regularly with all units of the imperial guard, the tagmata (Listes, 329), the second in command of the Opsikion was called for quite some time a topoteretes (cf. Zacos-Veglery, no. 1762). The province was organized as all other themes (with tourmarchai, anagrapheis, judges, protonotarioi, chartoularioi, strateutai [Laurent, Orghidan, no. 218], etc.), and, already in the ninth century, the commander was also called a strategos (see Listes, 264, footnote 23; Zacos, Seals II, no. 850; Seyrig, no. 191).
The littoral of the Opsikion was also part of the theme of Aigaion Pelagos.
See Pertusi, in De Them., 127-30; Winkelmann, Ämsterstruktur, 72-76, 119-20; ODB III, 1528-29; Haldon, Praetorians, passim, esp. 164 ff; T. Lounghis, "A Deo conservandum imperiale Obsequium," ByzSl 52 (1991) 54-60.