John Xeros (?) protospatharios (?) and judge of Hellas (tenth/eleventh century)
Obverse
Virgin orans standing on a suppedion. Sigla: ..: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Traces of circular inscription along a border of dots.
...ΟΗΘ........
Κύριε or Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of at least four lines, decoration below. No visible border.
..ΣΠ
..ΚΡΙ..
..ΛΑΔ..
Ξ..
Ἰ?ωάννῃ πρωτο?σπαθαρίῳ καὶ κριτῇ Ἑλλάδος τῷ Ξηρῷ or ένῳ
Obverse
Virgin orans standing on a suppedion. Sigla: ..: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Traces of circular inscription along a border of dots.
...ΟΗΘ........
Κύριε or Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of at least four lines, decoration below. No visible border.
..ΣΠ
..ΚΡΙ..
..ΛΑΔ..
Ξ..
Ἰ?ωάννῃ πρωτο?σπαθαρίῳ καὶ κριτῇ Ἑλλάδος τῷ Ξηρῷ or ένῳ
| Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.3246 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 29.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 2, no. 8.24. |
| Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Κύριε or Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Ἰωάννῃ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ κριτῇ Ἑλλάδος τῷ Ξηρῷ.
Lord or Mother of God, help your servant John Xeros protospatharios and judge of Hellas.
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)
- Codices vaticani graeci. Codices 604–866 (Open in Zotero)
- Die byzantinischen Bleisiegel in Österreich, Vol. 1, Kaiserhof (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- Le Peloponnese byzantin jusqu’en 1204 (Open in Zotero)
- Du stratège de thème au duc: chronologie de l’évolution au cours du XIe siècle (Open in Zotero)
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- Hellas und Thessalia (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
- Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Letters are legible only along one column at the center of the seal. Line 1 (rev.): the name consists of two or three letters, of which an omega is certain. If we restore the title (πρωτο)σπαθαρίῳ, which seems most likely for the period around the year 1000, then the name should certainly be read as Ἰωάννῃ; if we restore σπαθαρίῳ, which obliges us to seek another letter between omega and sigma, then the name has to be read as Κωνσταντίνῳ. Of the family name at the end, we know only the first letter, a Ξ; Ξηρῷ is as likely as Ξένῳ; we know of a John Xeros who lived in the early 11th century (R. Devreesse, Codices Vaticani Graeci III [Vatican, 1950], 28; cf. Seibt, Bleisiegel, no. 155, for a list of other Xeroi bearing the name of John, all later than the present seal).