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Demetrios Apokaukos, patrikios and archegetes of the West (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Michael holding the scepter surmounted by a trefoil ornament in his right hand and the globus in his left. Inscription on both sides: ΜΙΑ: Μι[χ])α[ήλ]. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines preceded by a cross; the two final letters are between two horizontal bars. Border of dots.

ΣΦΡΑΓ,
ΗΜΗΤΡ,
Π̅Ρ̅Ι⸣SΑΡΧΗ
ΓΕΤ,ΥΣΕ/
ΤΑΠΚΑΥ
Κ

σφραγ(ὶς) Δημητρ(ίου) π(ατ)ρι(κίου) (καὶ) ἀρχηγέτ(ου) Δύσε(ως) τοῦ Ἀπ(ο)καύκου

Obverse

Bust of St. Michael holding the scepter surmounted by a trefoil ornament in his right hand and the globus in his left. Inscription on both sides: ΜΙΑ: Μι[χ])α[ήλ]. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines preceded by a cross; the two final letters are between two horizontal bars. Border of dots.

ΣΦΡΑΓ,
ΗΜΗΤΡ,
Π̅Ρ̅Ι⸣SΑΡΧΗ
ΓΕΤ,ΥΣΕ/
ΤΑΠΚΑΥ
Κ

σφραγ(ὶς) Δημητρ(ίου) π(ατ)ρι(κίου) (καὶ) ἀρχηγέτ(ου) Δύσε(ως) τοῦ Ἀπ(ο)καύκου

Accession number BZS 1951.31.5.153
Diameter 26.0 mm; field: 23.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1 no. 1.3.

Translation

σφραγὶς Δημητρίου πατρικίου καὶ ἀρχηγέτου Δύσεως τοῦ Ἀποκαύκου.

Seal of Demetrios Apokaukos, patrikios and archegetes of the West.

Commentary

The term archegetes, equivalent to ὁπλιτάρχης, refers to the supreme commander of the infantry (Listes, 335). The owner of the present seal may have been the general commander of all the infantry levied in the Balkans, probably against a specific enemy (perhaps the Petchenegs). The tenth/eleventh century seal of George Maniakes, archegetes of the East (BZS.1958.106.3689), is the first known attestation of such an officer. The term "archegetes of the West" is found on two seals published by Mordtmann (Ἐλλ. Φιλολ. Σύλλ. 13, Suppl. [1880] 88; republished in Sig., 326).

The earliest mention of the Apokaukos family is from the late tenth century, when a Basil Apokaukos is known to have been active as a praitor and strategos of the Peloponnesos (The Life of St. Nikon, ed. and trans. D.F. Sullivan, 140-142, 166-168). Corinth XII, no. 64, publishes the seal of a "Kasianos" Apokaukos, protospatharios and strategos of the Peloponnesos.

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)