John domestikos of the Opsikion and of the Anatolikoi (tenth/eleventh century)
Obverse
Inscription of three lines. Border of dots.
+ΚΕ,
ΙΔ,ΜΕ
ΣΤΙΚ
Κ(ύρι)ε β(οήθει) Ἰω(άννῃ) δ(ο)μεστίκ(ῳ)
Reverse
Inscription of three lines followed by a decoration. Indeterminate border.
.ΟΨΙ
..Τ,ΑΝ
..ΟΛΙΚˋ
[τ]οῦ Ὀψι[κί]ου (καὶ) τ(ῶν) Ἀν[ατ]ολικῶν
Obverse
Inscription of three lines. Border of dots.
+ΚΕ,
ΙΔ,ΜΕ
ΣΤΙΚ
Κ(ύρι)ε β(οήθει) Ἰω(άννῃ) δ(ο)μεστίκ(ῳ)
Reverse
Inscription of three lines followed by a decoration. Indeterminate border.
.ΟΨΙ
..Τ,ΑΝ
..ΟΛΙΚˋ
[τ]οῦ Ὀψι[κί]ου (καὶ) τ(ῶν) Ἀν[ατ]ολικῶν
| Accession number | BZS.1947.2.1086 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 20.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 86.17; Laurent, Corpus II, no. 1082. |
Translation
Κύριε βοήθει Ἰωάννῃ δομεστίκῳ τοῦ Ὀψικίου καὶ τῶν Ἀνατολικῶν.
Lord, help John, domestikos of the Opsikion and of the Anatolikoi.
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)
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan (Open in Zotero)
- Sceaux byzantins du Musée National de Varsovie (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Other seals of domestikoi of the Anatolikoi (but of an early date) are mentioned in SBS 3 (1993) 196, 202. The domestikos of the theme seems to have been the commander of a contingent of a tagma placed at the disposal of the strategos (Listes, 341; Zacos, Seals II, no. 351). Theophanes, 388, referring to the eighth century, mentions the domestikos "of the stratores of the strategos of the Anatolikoi," but this may be a different office. The present specimen is the first seal to our knowledge that mentions a domestikos of two themes; would this be because a sole contingent was operating in both themes at a time when they were far away from the frontier and well protected from any foreign threat?