Constantine ho tou Serviotou, protospatharios, mystolektes and eparchos ton praitorion of the domestikos of the Schools of the East (eleventh century)
Obverse
Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.
+ΚΕ̅,Θ,
ΤΣΔ
ΚΝΣΤΑΝ
ΤΗΝ,ΑΣΠΑ
Θ,ΜΥΣΤΟ
ΛΕΚΤΗ
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Κωνσταντήνῳ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ, μυστολέκτῃ
Reverse
Inscription of seven lines. Border of dots.
ΕΠΑ.
ΧΤΝΠΡΑΙ
ΤΡΤΔΟ
Μ,ΣΤ,Κ,Τ,ΣΧ.
Λ,Τ,ΑΝΑΤ,Ο
ΤΣΕΡ
ΙΤ
καὶ ἐπάρχῳ τῶν πραιτωρίων τοῦ δομεστίκου τῶν σχολῶν τῆς Ἀνατολῆς ὁ τοῦ Σερβιώτου
Obverse
Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.
+ΚΕ̅,Θ,
ΤΣΔ
ΚΝΣΤΑΝ
ΤΗΝ,ΑΣΠΑ
Θ,ΜΥΣΤΟ
ΛΕΚΤΗ
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Κωνσταντήνῳ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ, μυστολέκτῃ
Reverse
Inscription of seven lines. Border of dots.
ΕΠΑ.
ΧΤΝΠΡΑΙ
ΤΡΤΔΟ
Μ,ΣΤ,Κ,Τ,ΣΧ.
Λ,Τ,ΑΝΑΤ,Ο
ΤΣΕΡ
ΙΤ
καὶ ἐπάρχῳ τῶν πραιτωρίων τοῦ δομεστίκου τῶν σχολῶν τῆς Ἀνατολῆς ὁ τοῦ Σερβιώτου
| Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.2620 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 27.0 mm; field: 23.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 99.10. |
Translation
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Κωνσταντήνῳ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ, μυστολέκτῃ καὶ ἐπάρχῳ τῶν πραιτωρίων τοῦ δομεστίκου τῶν σχολῶν τῆς Ἀνατολῆς ὁ τοῦ Σερβιώτου.
Lord, help your servant Constantine ho tou Serviotou protospatharios, mystolektes and eparch ton praitorion of the domestikos of the Schools of the East.
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)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- L’évolution de l’organisation administrative de l’empire byzantin au XIe siècle (1025–1118) (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- Molivdovuly grečeskogo Vostoka (Open in Zotero)
- Les sceaux byzantins de la Collection Henri Seyrig (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
The eparchos ton praitorion of the domestic of the Schools of the East is a title that appears here for the first time. It is obvious that it has been invented following the model of the ancient praefectus praetorio in a period during which many protobyzantine titles reappeared for a brief time (e.g., augustalios, illoustrios, etc.). But it obviously had nothing to do with the praefectura praetorio that had disappeared long ago. Because the owner of the present seal was also a mystolektes (i.e., a jurist: Listes, 325, note 223), we would tend to consider that he must have held a position similar to the logothete of the praitorion of the eparch (Listes, 320; Laurent, Corpus II, 599-600): the judge and administrator of the seat of the domestic of the Schools, which could easily be called praitorion, since that term is also used for the seat of the provincial strategoi. It all suggests that he sat on a military tribunal.
From an administrative point of view, the term Anatole was used until the 10th century to indicate (a) the territories that had previously belonged to the praefectura praetorio per Orientem that is, essentially, all the themes of Asia Minor together with those of Thrace and Macedonia; or, more realistically, (b) the territories situated to the east of Constantinople, that is, Asia Minor. In the 10th century the army command of the East was separated from that of the West (that is, Europe), Listes, 329, 341-42; cf. Oikonomides, Évolution, 141-42 and AP 35 [1978] 300, 328-29. The seals published here (and some others, such as the one of the stratopedarches of the East: Zacos-Veglery, no. 2780; Lihačev, Molivdovuly, 104, pl. LXIII,9; Seyrig, no. 159; or the hikanatoi of the East: Seyrig, no. 154) show that in the 10th and eleventh centuries the entity called the East comprised only military commands.
It should be noted, however, that in some cases the term Anatole seems to have been used to indicate a strategos of the Anatolikoi (cf. Winkelmann, Ämterstruktur, 78-79); and several civilian officials defined as ton Anatolikon could well wave authority over territories covering the East, well beyond the boundaries of the theme (see DO Seals 3, § 86, nos. 86.9, 86.17, 86.34).