Basil Trichinopodes, hypatos and strategos of Anabarza (eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of St. George with spear in his right hand and shield in his left. The inscription on the left is in the form of a cross; it is vertical on the right:
Ο|Α|ΙΟ|Γ|Ρ|Γ : Ὁ ἅγιο(ς) [Γ]εώργ(ιος). It seems that the Γ of the first column was used twice. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of eight lines. Border of dots.
κε̅,θ,
σιλει
υπτ
στρτηγ,
νρζισ
τοντριχ̣
ν̣....
Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) Βασιλείῳ ὑπάτῳ (καὶ) στρατηγ(ῷ) Ἀναβάρζις τὸν Τριχ(ι)νοπόδ(ην)
Obverse
Bust of St. George with spear in his right hand and shield in his left. The inscription on the left is in the form of a cross; it is vertical on the right:
Ο|Α|ΙΟ|Γ|Ρ|Γ : Ὁ ἅγιο(ς) [Γ]εώργ(ιος). It seems that the Γ of the first column was used twice. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of eight lines. Border of dots.
κε̅,θ,
σιλει
υπτ
στρτηγ,
νρζισ
τοντριχ̣
ν̣....
Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) Βασιλείῳ ὑπάτῳ (καὶ) στρατηγ(ῷ) Ἀναβάρζις τὸν Τριχ(ι)νοπόδ(ην)
| Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.587 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 30.0 mm; field: 23.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 5 no. 1.1b; J. W. Nesbitt, "Overstruck Seals in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection," 89. |
| Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Κύριε βοήθει Βασιλείῳ ὑπάτῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Ἀναβάρζις τὸν Τριχινοπόδην.
Lord, help Basil Trichinopodes, hypatos and strategos of Anabarza.
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)
- Overstruck Seals in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection (Open in Zotero)
- Un nouveau boullotirion byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Die byzantinischen Bleisiegel in Österreich, Vol. 1, Kaiserhof (Open in Zotero)
- Sceaux de la collection Zacos (Bibliothèque nationale de France), se rapportant aux provinces orientales de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
The remnants of an earlier strike appear along the lower edge of the reverse, where the following large letters can be distinguished: μ...[στρατη]λάτης [τῆς] Ἀνα(τολῆς) ὁ Βρ[υέννιος?]. It would appear that an eleventh-century stratelates of the East, based in Antioch, possibly named Bryennios, sent a sealed letter to his subordinate the strategos of Anabarza, who afterwards reused the attached seal for his own correspondence.
We note that a Bryennios Vatatzes is attested as stratelates of the West in the eleventh century: N. Mouchmov, “Un nouveau boullotirion byzantin,” 190. On the early history of the Bryennios family of the eleventh century, see Seibt, Bleisiegel, no. 102.
Cheynet has published two seals of a Basil Trichinopodes protospatharios, hypatos, and strategos of Anabarza (Collection Zacos, nos. 4a and b). The reading of the family name on these seals is certain, and Cheynet has suggested that our two seals belong to the same man. We can now confirm this on the basis of a seal published by Werner Seibt, "Four seals of the 11th century from Yozgat," BZ 113(3) (2020), no. 1, pp. 925-27; this is a parallel on which the family name is clearly legible as Τριχ(ι)νοπόδ(ην), and so we have corrected our previous reading (Triklinios) which was published in DO Seals 5.
Anabarza, a heavily fortified town northeast of Tarsos and Adana, was taken by Nikephoros Phokas in early 962 and occupied by the Byzantines after 964. It became the seat of a strategos and remained under Byzantine control until the late eleventh century. For a list of the strategoi of Anabarza, see Cheynet, Collection Zacos, 16.