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Barsakios imperial protospatharios and strategos of Hellas (ninth/tenth century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ|ΔΛ. Border of dots.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, a row of three pellets above and pellets flanking the last line. Border of dots.


ΡΣ
ΚΙΣΠΘ
ΡΙΚ/ΣΤΡ
ΤΕΛΛ
ΔΟΣ

Βαρσακίῳ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Ἑλλάδος

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ|ΔΛ. Border of dots.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, a row of three pellets above and pellets flanking the last line. Border of dots.


ΡΣ
ΚΙΣΠΘ
ΡΙΚ/ΣΤΡ
ΤΕΛΛ
ΔΟΣ

Βαρσακίῳ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Ἑλλάδος

Accession number BZS.1958.106.5602
Diameter 24.0 mm; field: 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 8.41.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Βαρσακίῳ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Ἑλλάδος.

Mother of God, help your servant Barsakios, imperial protospatharios and strategos of Hellas.

Commentary

Line 3 (rev.): the letter Κ has its lower oblique bar twisted at the end, obviously to indicate the abbreviation, which is indicated a second time by the proper mark. This peculiar sign appears on other seals of around the year 900 (cf. DO Seals 2, no. 8.52). We know of a ninth-century Barsakios who was protospatharios and strategos Cephalonia (no DO Seals 2, 1.8) and, perhaps later, patrikios and strategos of Sicily (DOSeals 1.5.9); however, the seals of these officials display the patriarchal cross, not the cruciform monogram of the present specimen. The ninth-century seal of a Barsakios imperial protospatharios and strategos of the Peloponnesos was published by Zacos-Veglery (no. 2569A). Cf. DO Seals 2, no. 22.22.

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)
  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (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)