John horreiarios of Smyrna (tenth century)
Obverse
Patriarchal cross on three steps resting on a ball; fleurons arising from base to the top. Remains of a circular inscription along a border of dots:
.εRοηθ,τ......
[Κ(ύρι)]ε βοήθ(ει) τῷ [σῷ δούλῳ]
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.
+ι̅
ανν.
ρια.
σμυ.
Ἰωάνν[ῃ] ὡρια[ρ(ίῳ)] Σμύ[ρ(νης)]
Obverse
Patriarchal cross on three steps resting on a ball; fleurons arising from base to the top. Remains of a circular inscription along a border of dots:
.εRοηθ,τ......
[Κ(ύρι)]ε βοήθ(ει) τῷ [σῷ δούλῳ]
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.
+ι̅
ανν.
ρια.
σμυ.
Ἰωάνν[ῃ] ὡρια[ρ(ίῳ)] Σμύ[ρ(νης)]
| Accession number | BZS.1958.106.5289 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 20.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 35.1. |
Translation
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Ἰωάννῃ ὡριαρίῳ Σμύρνης.
Lord, help your servant John, horreiarios of Smyrna.
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)
- 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. 2 (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Another seal recording a horreiarios of Smyrna named John but displaying a bust of St. George (and bearing an indiction number) was published by Konstantopoulos, no. 138; another, of Leo koubikoularios, again with St. George, can be found in Zacos, Seals II, no. 550.
Smyrna (modern Izmir) was an important city, port, and economic center of the province of Asia, and served in the tenth century as the residence of the strategos of Samos (De Them., chap. XVI, line 16). It had a hinterland with extensive agricultural production reflected in our seals of horreiarioi.
At first, Smyrna was a simple bishopric of Ephesos, but by the mid-fifth century it became an autocephalous archbishopric. Finally it is attested as a metropolis from 869 onward. This evolution can be traced in the notitiae.
See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 563; Arhweiler, Smyrne, passim; Brandes, Städte, 126-26; ODB III, 1919-20.