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(Leo?) imperial spatharios and archon of Crete (eighth/ninth century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type VIII); in the quarters: Σ|ΔΛ. Wreath border.

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of at least five lines. Border of dots.

...
.ΤΗΒˊΣΠ
ΑΘΑΡΧ
ΝΤ,
ΚΡΗ
ΤΗΣ

......τῃ βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ καὶ ἄρχοντι Κρήτης

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type VIII); in the quarters: Σ|ΔΛ. Wreath border.

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of at least five lines. Border of dots.

...
.ΤΗΒˊΣΠ
ΑΘΑΡΧ
ΝΤ,
ΚΡΗ
ΤΗΣ

......τῃ βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ καὶ ἄρχοντι Κρήτης

Accession number BZS.1958.106.4076
Diameter 33.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 36.2.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 2645 (slightly different reading).
Cf. SBS 2 (1990) 146, no. 16.

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ ......τῃ βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ καὶ ἄρχοντι Κρήτης.

Lord, help your servant Leo (?) imperial spatharios and archon of Crete.

Commentary

On the first line of the reverse, before ΤΗ, one can distinguish the bottom of a vertical bar, probably at the point where it is met by an oblique one. If true, this would constitute an Ν, and the name should be read as Λέοντη (Λέοντι). But this reading is not secure.

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)
  • Les îles de l’empire byzantin: VIIIe-XIIe siècles (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)
  • Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)
  • Ὁ Ταξίαρχης Κρήτης (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Crete, from the 5th Century to the Venetian Conquest (Open in Zotero)
  • Crete in the Conflicts of the Eighth Century (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • The Conquest of Crete by the Arabs (ca. 824): A Turning Point in the Struggle between Byzantium and Islam (Open in Zotero)