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The oikonomos of Smyrna (eighth/ninth century)

 
 

Obverse

A cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters, the inscription: .|. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει [τ]ῷ σῷ δούλ[ῳ]

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Wreath border.

+οι
κονομ
ωσμυρ
νησ

οἰκονόμῳ Σμύρνης

Obverse

A cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters, the inscription: .|. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει [τ]ῷ σῷ δούλ[ῳ]

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Wreath border.

+οι
κονομ
ωσμυρ
νησ

οἰκονόμῳ Σμύρνης

Accession number BZS.1958.106.5031
Diameter 30.0 mm; field: 25.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 35.5.

Laurent, Corpus V/3, no. 1809; Zacos-Veglery, no. 2277.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ οἰκονόμῳ Σμύρνης.

Mother of God, help your servant, the oikonomos of Smyrna.

Commentary

Zacos-Veglery explained the absence of the owner's name as a sign of his humility. See SBS 4 (1995) 71-79.

Smyrna (modern Izmir) was an important city, port, and economic center of the province of Asia, and served in the tenth century as residence of the strategos of Samos (De Them., chap. XVI, line 16). It had a hinterland with extensive agricultural production that is illustrated by our seals of horreiarioi.

At first, Smyrna was a simple bishopric of Ephesos, but then (mid-fifth century) it became an autocephalous archbishopric. Finally it is attested as a metropolis from 869 onward. This evolution is reflected in the notitiae.

See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 563; Arhweiler, Smyrne, passim; Brandes, Städte, 126-26; ODB III, 1919-20.

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)
  • De Thematibus (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • L’histoire et la géographie de la région de Smyrne entre les deux occupations turques (1081-1317), particulièrement au XIIIe siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Die Städte Kleinasiens im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Studies in Byzantine Sigillography (Open in Zotero)