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Damianos imperial spatharios and kommerkiarios of Abydos and Salonica (tenth century)

 
 

Obverse

A griffin facing left, with foliage in front. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, preceded and followed by a row of three pellets. Border of dots.

  
ΔΑΜΙ.
ΝˊΣΠΑΘ.
ΚΟΥΜΕΡΚΙ
ΑΥΔΟΥ
ΣΑΛΟΝΙˊ
  

Δαμιανῷ βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ (καὶ) κομερκιαρίῳ Ἀβύδου καὶ Σαλονίκης

Obverse

A griffin facing left, with foliage in front. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, preceded and followed by a row of three pellets. Border of dots.

  
ΔΑΜΙ.
ΝˊΣΠΑΘ.
ΚΟΥΜΕΡΚΙ
ΑΥΔΟΥ
ΣΑΛΟΝΙˊ
  

Δαμιανῷ βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ (καὶ) κομερκιαρίῳ Ἀβύδου καὶ Σαλονίκης

Accession number BZS.1958.106.3580
Diameter 27.0 mm; field: 18.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 18.36.

Translation

Δαμιανῷ βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ καὶ κομερκιαρίῳ Ἀβύδου καὶ Σαλονίκης.

Damianos imperial spatharios and kommerkiarios of Abydos and Salonica.

Commentary

For the form Σαλονίκη, see DO Seals 1, no. 18.29. It is not clear whether the word ΑΒΥΔΟΥ should be written here with a capital Α or not. If the first hypothesis is admitted, Damianos would have been simultaneously kommerkiarios of two very distant ports, Abydos (of the Hellespont) and Thessalonica: one person could hardly serve both, unless he operated through representatives. If the second hypothesis is admitted, ἄβυδος would be the special office of the port of Thessalonica, on which see more below; this seems to us more likely.

A poorly preserved, tenth-century seal belonging to a certain Damianos, imperial spatharios, koumerkiarios, and abyd[ikos?] (or abyd[ou?]) of Thessalonica, was published by Laurent, Orghidan, no. 262. He could well be the same person as the owner of the present specimen.

A similar problem appears with the seal of Δαμιανὸς βασιλικὸς κομμερκιάριος Θεσσαλονίκης καὶ παραφύλαξ Ἀβύδου (Zacos-Veglery, no. 184: BZS.1955.1.792), who lived in the ninth century, well before the present seal was issued. Here again we understand "paraphylax of the abydos [of Thessalonica]," but since the syntax on the seal does not require this interpretation, and since Abydos is the last name that appears on it, we publish this specimen in the chapter on Abydos and give the relevant information in the commentary (DO Seals 3, no. 40.22.).

Bibliography

  • 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)
  • Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Silk Trade and Production in Byzantium from the Sixth to the Ninth Century: The Seals of Kommerkiarioi (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Bleisiegel in Berlin (West) (Open in Zotero)
  • Le kommerkion d’Abydos, Thessalonique et le commerce bulgare du 9e siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Recherches sur les douanes à Byzance: L’octava, le "kommerkion" et les commerciares (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de Saint Démétrius et la pénétration des Slaves dans les Balkans (Open in Zotero)
  • L’éparque de Thessalonique: les origines d'une institution administrative (VIIIe-IXe siècles) (Open in Zotero)