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Theodorokanos protospatharios epi tou Chrysotriklinou and strategos of Artach (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Inscription of five lines, a decoration below. Border of dots.

ΚΕΘ
.Σ.
.Θ.Ο
...ΚΑΝ
..ΠΑΘΑΡ,


Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) [τ]ῷ σ[ῷ] δού[λ]ῳ Θ[ε]οδ[ωρο]κάνῳ [(πρωτο)σ]παθαρ(ίῳ)

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, a decoration below. Border of dots.

ΕΠΙΤ
ΤΡΙΚΛ
ΙΝSΣΤ.
ΤΗΓ..
ΑΡΤ.


ἐπὶ τ[οῦ] Χρ(υσο)τρικλίνου (καὶ) στ[ρ(α)]τηγῷ [τοῦ] Ἀρτ[άχ]

Obverse

Inscription of five lines, a decoration below. Border of dots.

ΚΕΘ
.Σ.
.Θ.Ο
...ΚΑΝ
..ΠΑΘΑΡ,


Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) [τ]ῷ σ[ῷ] δού[λ]ῳ Θ[ε]οδ[ωρο]κάνῳ [(πρωτο)σ]παθαρ(ίῳ)

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, a decoration below. Border of dots.

ΕΠΙΤ
ΤΡΙΚΛ
ΙΝSΣΤ.
ΤΗΓ..
ΑΡΤ.


ἐπὶ τ[οῦ] Χρ(υσο)τρικλίνου (καὶ) στ[ρ(α)]τηγῷ [τοῦ] Ἀρτ[άχ]

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.2093
Diameter 29.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 11.1. Another specimen is published in Revue des Études Anciennes 6 (1904): 33–34 and yet another one is kept in the IFEB Collection.

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

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ θεοδωροκάνῳ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ ἐπὶ τοῦ Χρυσοτρικλίνου καὶ στρατηγῷ τοῦ Ἀρτάχ.

Lord, help your servant Theodorokanos protospatharios epi tou Chrysotriklinou and strategos of Artach.

Commentary

Artach was located 40 km east of Antioch. The fortress was conquered by the Byzantines in 966 and placed under the command of a strategos who was in turn subordinate to the doux of Antioch (cf. Kühn, Armee, 170–71; Yahya, 466; Attaleiates, 118–19). The establishment of imperial curatories in the region of Artach is proven by seals of kouratores (Konstantopoulos, no. 381d; see also SBS 3 [1993]: 154).

The seal of a Kemales Tzotzikes, imperial protospatharios, hypatos, and strategos of Artach, dating from the first half of the eleventh century, is published in Spink III, no. 262.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 5: The East (continued), Constantinople and Environs, Unknown Locations, Addenda, Uncertain Readings (Open in Zotero)
  • Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)
  • Histoire de Yahya-ibn-Said d’Antioche, continuateur de Said-ibn-Bitriq (Open in Zotero)
  • Michaelis Attaliotae Historia (Open in Zotero)
  • Βυζαντιακὰ μολυβδόβουλλα τοῦ ἐν ἈΘήναις Ἐθνικοῦ Νομισματικοῦ Μουσείου (Open in Zotero)