Skip to Content
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
Search

Navigation Breadcrumbs

Leo protospatharios, epi ton deeseon and judge of the Anatolikoi (eleventh century)

 
 
title

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding Christ in her left arm. Sigla: ..ΘΥ̅: [Μήτηρ] Θ(εο)ῦ. Along a border of dots, circular inscription.

ΙΤΣΔΟΥΛ.

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

title

Reverse

Inscription of six lines preceded and followed by an ornament. Border of dots.

 
.ΛΕΟΝ.
ΑΣΠΑΘ,ΕΠΙ
ΤΝΔΕΗΣ.
ΟΝΚΡΙΤ.
.ΝΑΝ.
.ΟΛΙ
 

Λέοντι πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ ἐπὶ τῶν δεήσεον καὶ κριτῇ τῶν Ἀνατολικῶν

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin holding Christ in her left arm. Sigla: ..ΘΥ̅: [Μήτηρ] Θ(εο)ῦ. Along a border of dots, circular inscription.

ΙΤΣΔΟΥΛ.

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of six lines preceded and followed by an ornament. Border of dots.

 
.ΛΕΟΝ.
ΑΣΠΑΘ,ΕΠΙ
ΤΝΔΕΗΣ.
ΟΝΚΡΙΤ.
.ΝΑΝ.
.ΟΛΙ
 

Λέοντι πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ ἐπὶ τῶν δεήσεον καὶ κριτῇ τῶν Ἀνατολικῶν

Accession number BZS.1955.1.2799
Diameter 26.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 86.28.
Cf. Lihačev, IZIGI, Appendix, pl. V, no. 22; Zacos, Seals II, no. 835; Laurent, Vatican, no. 93 (metallic copy); Szemioth-Wasilewski, no. 44 (another metallic copy); Lj. Maksimović and M. Popović, "Les sceaux byzantins de la région danubienne en Serbie," SBS 3 (1993) 199, no. 4 (metallic copy at National Museum of Belgrade). Laurent mentions still another specimen in Vienna and another metallic copy at the American Numismastic Society (Newell Collection).

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Λέοντι πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ ἐπὶ τῶν δεήσεον καὶ κριτῇ τῶν Ἀνατολικῶν.

Lord, help your servant Leo, protospatharios, epi ton deeseon, and judge of the Anatolikoi.

Commentary

We assume that Leo was the master of petitions of the emperor in Constantinople; while holding this office he farmed out the mandate of provincial judge. See the remarks in DOSeals 1.71.14.

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)
  • Istoriceskoe znacenie italo-greceskoj ikonopisi: Izobra zenija Bogomatera v prozvedenijah italo-greceskih ikonopiscev i ih vlijanie na kompozicii nekotoryh proslavlennyh russkih ikon (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Les sceaux byzantins du Médaillier Vatican (Open in Zotero)
  • Sceaux byzantins du Musée National de Varsovie (Open in Zotero)
  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)