Skip to Content

....nos patrikios, imperial protospatharios and strategos of Hellas (ninth century)

 
 

Obverse

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

Κύριε or Θεοτόκε βοήθει

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Wreath border.

....
ΝΠΤΡΙΚ
./ΣΠΘΡ/
.ΣΤΡΤΕ
ΛΛΔ/

....νῳ πατρικίῳ, βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ (καὶ) στρατηγῷ Ἑλλάδος

Obverse

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

Κύριε or Θεοτόκε βοήθει

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Wreath border.

....
ΝΠΤΡΙΚ
./ΣΠΘΡ/
.ΣΤΡΤΕ
ΛΛΔ/

....νῳ πατρικίῳ, βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ (καὶ) στρατηγῷ Ἑλλάδος

Accession number BZS.1958.106.4463
Diameter 30.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 8.60.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 2604.

Translation

Κύριε or Θεοτόκε βοήθει ....νῳ πατρικίῳ, βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Ἑλλάδος.

Lord or Mother of God, help ....nos patrikios, imperial protospatharios and strategos of Hellas.

Commentary

Contrary to Zacos-Veglery, we think that the word βασιλικῷ needs to be restored on line 3 to balance the epigraphical layout. The name of the owner cannot be reconstructed. It had to be rather short (the first line should contain ca. 4 letters, as the last one) and end in νος: Ῥωμανός or Μαρίνος are more likely than Μαριανός or Στέφανος; Κωνσταντῖνος or Εὐφημιανός should be excluded.

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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Peloponnese byzantin jusqu’en 1204 (Open in Zotero)
  • Du stratège de thème au duc: chronologie de l’évolution au cours du XIe siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Hellas und Thessalia (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)