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George patrikios and Theophylaktos general kommerkiarioi of the apotheke of Lazike, Trapezous and Kerasous (692/3)

 
 

Obverse

Emperor Justinian II standing frontally, beardless, wearing a crown and chlamys and holding a globus cruciger in his right hand and a scepter cross in his left hand. Indiction signs on either side:-S. Circular inscription within a linear border, beginning at twelve o'clock:

γεωργιουπατρικ-ιSθεοφυλακτ..

Γεωργίου πατρικίου (καὶ) Θεοφυλάκτ[ου]

Reverse

Inscription of seven lines. Linear border.

γενικο
νκωμμερ
κιαριωναπο
θηκησλαζη
κηστραπεζ
ντονSκε
ρασντ

γενικον κωμμερκιαρίων ἀποθήκης Λαζηκῆς, Τραπεζοῦντον (καὶ) Κερασούντ(ων)

Obverse

Emperor Justinian II standing frontally, beardless, wearing a crown and chlamys and holding a globus cruciger in his right hand and a scepter cross in his left hand. Indiction signs on either side:-S. Circular inscription within a linear border, beginning at twelve o'clock:

γεωργιουπατρικ-ιSθεοφυλακτ..

Γεωργίου πατρικίου (καὶ) Θεοφυλάκτ[ου]

Reverse

Inscription of seven lines. Linear border.

γενικο
νκωμμερ
κιαριωναπο
θηκησλαζη
κηστραπεζ
ντονSκε
ρασντ

γενικον κωμμερκιαρίων ἀποθήκης Λαζηκῆς, Τραπεζοῦντον (καὶ) Κερασούντ(ων)

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4373
Diameter 31.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 4, no. 34.1.

Zacos-Veglery, no. 179.

Translation

Ἰνδικτιὼν ς᾽     Γεωργίου πατρικίου καὶ Θεοφυλάκτου γενικον κωμμερκιαρίων ἀποθήκης Λαζηκῆς, Τραπεζοῦντον καὶ Κερασούντων.

Indiction 6.      (Seal of) George patrikios and Theophylaktos, general kommerkarioi of the apotheke of Lazike, Trapezous, and Kerasous.

Commentary

The date of this seal is secured by the career of the owners (cf. Zacos-Veglery, 150, table 6/2). It is interesting to note that the two associates had farmed out the same apotheke for two years, 691-693, as attested by the seal Zacos-Veglery, no. 178. Our specimen was made after the end of the first year, and for this reason it mentions only the indiction corresponding to 692/3 (cf. Oikonomides, "Kommerkiarioi", 40).

Today Giresun, the port on the Black Sea coast, Kerasous was an economic center because it was also the end of the road leading to Koloneia. It was a suffragan bishopric of Neokaisareia from the fifth until the late eleventh century, when it became an independent metropolis. See ODB II, 1123;  Bryer-Winfield, 126-34; Sinclair II, 111-115. Laurent, Corpus V/3, 87-88. List of prelates in Fedalto, HEO I, 70.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
  • Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Open in Zotero)
  • The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos (Open in Zotero)
  • Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archaeological Survey (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Silk Trade and Production in Byzantium from the Sixth to the Ninth Century: The Seals of Kommerkiarioi (Open in Zotero)