Skip to Content

Theo(dore/dosios/doulos/phanes) general kommerkiarios of the apotheke of Mesembria (698/9 or 713/4)

 
 

Obverse

Emperor standing frontally, wearing chlamys and holding globus cruiger (and, possibly, akakia in his left hand). On either side, indiction signs: ΙΒ. Slight traces of circular inscription beginning at 1 o'clock. No visible border.

θεο

νδικτιὼν ιβˊ  Θεοδώρου/δούλου/δοσίου/φάνους ....

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. No visible border.

γε..
κουκομ
ερκιαρι.
.αποθηκ
ησμεσ.
......

καὶ γενικοῦ κομμερκιαρίου ἀποθήκης Μεσημβρίας

Obverse

Emperor standing frontally, wearing chlamys and holding globus cruiger (and, possibly, akakia in his left hand). On either side, indiction signs: ΙΒ. Slight traces of circular inscription beginning at 1 o'clock. No visible border.

θεο

νδικτιὼν ιβˊ  Θεοδώρου/δούλου/δοσίου/φάνους ....

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. No visible border.

γε..
κουκομ
ερκιαρι.
.αποθηκ
ησμεσ.
......

καὶ γενικοῦ κομμερκιαρίου ἀποθήκης Μεσημβρίας

Accession number BZS.1958.106.670
Diameter 29.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 77.9.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 200a.

Translation

Ἰνδικτιὼν ιβˊ  Θεοδώρου/δούλου/δοσίου/φάνους .... καὶ γενικοῦ κομμερκιαρίου ἀποθήκης Μεσημβρίας.

Indiction 12.  (Seal) of Theo(dore/dosios/doulos/phanes) ... and general kommerkiarios of the apotheke of Mesembria.

Commentary

This seal, which belonged to a kommerkiarios without an associate, could be assigned to the reign of Tiberios III and 698/9 (the date given by Zacos-Veglery), or to the reign of Anastasios and 713/4. The other twelfth indictions coincide with the joint reign of more than one emperor. In favor of the second date is that Tiberios III always appears on his coins in military garb, whereas Anastasios II is always shown wearing the chlamys (cf. Oikonomides, Dated Seals, no. 30, commentary). The fact that in 713/4 the apotheke of Mesembria was jointly administered by Synetos and Niketas favors the first date (cf. DO Seals 1, no. 77.10).

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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Tribute or Trade?: The Byzantine-Bulgarian Treaty of 716 (Open in Zotero)
  • Mesembria in the Ninth Century: Epigraphical Evidence (Open in Zotero)
  • Sceaux byzantins du musée de Constantinople (Open in Zotero)
  • Ἡ συνέχεια τῆς Χρονογραφίας τοῦ Ἰωάννου Σκυλίτση (Open in Zotero)
  • La Thrace Orientale et La Mer Noire: Géographie Ecclésiastique et Prosopographie (VIIIe-XIIe Siècles) (Open in Zotero)