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N. asekretis and judge of Nikopolis (tenth/eleventh century)

 
 
title

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

title

Reverse

Inscription of four preserved lines. No border visible.

ωασ..
.ιτ,κρ.
.νικοπ
.λεοσ

.....ῳ ἀσηκρῖτις καὶ κριτῇ Νικοπόλεος

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.
Seibt, Nikopolis, no. 10.
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.

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).

Bibliography