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Christophoros hypatos and kommerkiarios of Adrianoupolis (822/3?)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of two emperors of equal height; each wears chlamys and crown with cross. The figure at left is bearded, the other beardless. In center above, a cross. Below an exergual line, indiction signs: Α. No visible border.

νδικτιὼν αˊ

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Wreath border.

ΧΡΙΣ
ΤΟΦΟΡΥΠ
ΚΟΜΜΕΡΚ
.ΔΡΙΝΟ
ΠΟΛΕ

Χριστοφόρου ὑπάτου καὶ κομμερκιαρίου δριανουπόλεως

Obverse

Bust of two emperors of equal height; each wears chlamys and crown with cross. The figure at left is bearded, the other beardless. In center above, a cross. Below an exergual line, indiction signs: Α. No visible border.

νδικτιὼν αˊ

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Wreath border.

ΧΡΙΣ
ΤΟΦΟΡΥΠ
ΚΟΜΜΕΡΚ
.ΔΡΙΝΟ
ΠΟΛΕ

Χριστοφόρου ὑπάτου καὶ κομμερκιαρίου δριανουπόλεως

Accession number BZS.1958.106.660
Diameter 29.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 44.5.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 283.

Translation

Ἰνδικτιὼν αˊ.   Χριστοφόρου ὑπάτου καὶ κομμερκιαρίου Ἀδριανουπόλεως.

Indiction 1.   (Seal of) Christophoros hypatos and kommerkiarios of Adrianoupolis.

Commentary

This is an early ninth-century seal because the indiction signs are inscribed beneath the exergual line, below the imperial busts (these signs appear no earlier than the reign of Nikephoros I: Zacos-Veglery, no. 281); and its inscription twice contains the letter Ρ with a serif on top, a feature that appears on seals after 820 (Dated Seals, nos. 44 and 46). Since we have here two emperors and the seal is dated to the first indiction, one must agree with the first editors and date it to 822/3 (Michael II and Theophilos) rather than 837/8 (Theophilos: but by then his son and co-emperor Constantine was dead; cf. DO Seals 1, no. 43.18). It is true that Michael II and Theophilos, when appearing together on silver and bronze coins, are represented wearing different attire (Michael is shown in a chlamys, Theophilos in a loros), which is not the case here. One has to assume that for this seal the model is unrelated to coins.

Bibliography

  • 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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)
  • Le kommerkion d’Abydos, Thessalonique et le commerce bulgare du 9e siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Armenian Miniature Paintings of the Monastic Library at San Lazzaro (Open in Zotero)
  • Ioannis Scylitzae Synopsis historiarum (Open in Zotero)
  • Μελέται περὶ τῆς διοικητικῆς διαιρέσεως καὶ τῆς ἐπαρχιακῆς διοικήσεως ἐν τῷ βυζαντινῷ κράτει (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
  • Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • La Thrace Orientale et La Mer Noire: Géographie Ecclésiastique et Prosopographie (VIIIe-XIIe Siècles) (Open in Zotero)