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Kosmas stratelates and general kommerkiarios of the apotheke of the Cycladic Islands (?) (687-689)

 
 

Obverse

The emperor standing, holding the globus cruciger. To his left, the indiction sign (), on the other the indiction years Α|Β. No border visible; part of a circular inscription preserved at right.

νδικτιὼν αˊ  

νδικτιὼν βˊ  

Κοσμᾷ στρατηλάτου

Reverse

Inscription of six lines; top and bottom lines effaced. No border visible.

ΚΟΜΕ
ΡΚΙΑΡΙ
.ΠΟΘΗΚ.
.ΟΝΚΥ

καὶ γενικοῦ κομερκιαρίου ποθήκης τον Κυκλάδων νήσων

Obverse

The emperor standing, holding the globus cruciger. To his left, the indiction sign (), on the other the indiction years Α|Β. No border visible; part of a circular inscription preserved at right.

νδικτιὼν αˊ  

νδικτιὼν βˊ  

Κοσμᾷ στρατηλάτου

Reverse

Inscription of six lines; top and bottom lines effaced. No border visible.

ΚΟΜΕ
ΡΚΙΑΡΙ
.ΠΟΘΗΚ.
.ΟΝΚΥ

καὶ γενικοῦ κομερκιαρίου ποθήκης τον Κυκλάδων νήσων

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1792
Diameter 26.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 42.5.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 163.

Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore.

Translation

Ἰνδικτιὼν αˊ  
Ἰνδικτιὼν βˊ   
Κοσμᾷ στρατηλάτου καὶ γενικοῦ κομερκιαρίου ἀποθήκης τον Κυκλάδων νήσων (?).

Indiction 1.  Indiction 2.  Kosmas stratelates and general kommerkiarios of the apotheke of the Cycladic Islands (?).

Commentary

Zacos-Veglery have rightly identified the owner as Kosmas stratelates, known from other kommerkiarios appointments of the year 679-691 (Zacos-Veglery, 147, table 4) and the emperor as Justinian II (685-695) and assigned the seal to the years 687-89. We have let the dating stand. This specimen would not have been issued in 702-704 under Tiberius III. Only the first letter of the warehouse that Kosmas supervised is visible, but one can discern the left portion of the letter following, and, since it is oblique, we may reaonsably assume that it is an Υ. The preceding two letters ΟΝ can be read but are not secure; they suggest that the geographical name had a plural form. Hence we accept the reading τον Κυκλάδων proposed by Zacos-Veglery with some reservations.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Les îles de l’empire byzantin: VIIIe-XIIe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Molivdovuly grečeskogo Vostoka (Open in Zotero)
  • Corinth, Vol. 12, The Minor Objects (Open in Zotero)
  • Patmiakē Vivliothēkē: ētoi neos katalogos tōn cheirographōn kōdikōn tēs Hieras Monēs Hagiou Iōannou tou Theologou Patmou (Open in Zotero)