N. asekretis and judge of Nikopolis (tenth/eleventh century)
Obverse
Cross on (at least two) steps; Χ on crossing. On either side fleuron rising to the top. Remnants of a circular inscription. No border visible.
δουλ,
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Obverse
Cross on (at least two) steps; Χ on crossing. On either side fleuron rising to the top. Remnants of a circular inscription. No border visible.
δουλ,
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of four preserved lines. No border visible.
ωασ..
.ιτ,κρ.
.νικοπ
.λεοσ
.....ῳ ἀσηκρῖτις καὶ κριτῇ Νικοπόλεος
Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.2447 |
---|---|
Diameter | 19.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 2, no. 2.4. |
Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ .....ῳ ἀσηκρῖτις καὶ κριτῇ Νικοπόλεος.
Lord, help your servant N., asekretis and judge of Nikopolis.
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
- Die sphragistischen Quellen zum byzantinischen Thema Nikopolis
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles
- De Administrando Imperio
- Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio
- Nikopolis und Kephallenia
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin, vol. 5, L’Église
- Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae
- Nikopolis I. Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Nicopolis
- Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium
Commentary
Seibt has read the first preserved line of the reverse and the beginning of the second line as: ..ῳ βασιλικῷ βεστίτωρι: Ω is clearly legible; the second letter is an uncertain Α that could as well be read as an ; the third letter, with its round contour, could be a Σ or an Ε but not as a . We therefore read ἀσηκρῆτις, a title often combined with that of thematic judge (e.g., no. 2.1 above); moreover, the title of imperial vestitor seems to have gone out of fashion by the middle of the 10th century (Listes, 296).