Nicholas spatharokandidatos and chrysoteles of Sardeis (eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of St. George holding the usual spear and shield. Vertical inscription: |γε||ρ-.|ι|ο|/ : Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Γεώρ[γ]ιο(ς). No border visible.
Obverse
Bust of St. George holding the usual spear and shield. Vertical inscription: |γε||ρ-.|ι|ο|/ : Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Γεώρ[γ]ιο(ς). No border visible.
Reverse
Inscription of five lines, (preceded and?) followed by an ornament. Border of dots.
...Rθ
.ικ,λ,σ
.θρ,κˋ
.τελ,τ,
σρˋ
-+-
[Κ(ύρι)ε] β(οή)θ(ει) [Ν]ικ(ο)λά(ῳ) σ[π(α)]θαρ(ο)κ(αν)δ(ι)δ(άτῳ) [(καὶ)] χρ(υσο)τελ(εῖ) τ(ῶν) Σάρδ(εων)
Accession number | BZS.1958.106.4369 |
---|---|
Diameter | 23.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 32.1. |
Translation
Κύριε βοήθει Νικολάῳ σπαθαροκανδιδάτῳ καὶ χρυσοτελεῖ τῶν Σάρδεων.
Lord, help Nicholas, spatharokandidatos and chrysoteles of Sardeis.
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)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Kleinasiatische Ortsnamen (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine and Turkish Sardis (Open in Zotero)
- Die Städte Kleinasiens im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert (Open in Zotero)
- The Life of Saint Nikon: Text, Translation, and Commentary (Open in Zotero)
- Μεσαιωνικὴ βιβλιοθήκη (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Chrysoteles is the name of an official who appears in the late tenth and the eleventh century and is related to the assessment and collection of taxes (or of a specific tax: χρυσοτελῆ εἴσπραξιν) in gold coins. Cf. Life of Nikon, ed. Sullivan, 58, 13 and the notes on p. 295; and Michael Psellos, in Sathas MB V, 259, 276.
Sardeis (modern Sart), was capital of Lydia and seat of a metropolitan, attested since 325. The non-hellenic name appears on seals as well as in the notitiae in two main forms, the classical Σάρδεις, -εων, and the popular Σάρδη, ἦς, or non-declined Σάρδης (whenever in doubt, we have restored the classical form). From the seals we learn that it was also a fiscal center. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 260-61 (add Zacos, Seals II, nos. 670, 869); Zgusta, 541-42; C. Foss, Byzantine and Turkish Sardis (Cambridge, Mass., 1976); Brandes, Städte, 86-88; ODB III, 1843.