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Asotios Taronites, magistros (tenth century)

 
 

Obverse

Inscription of four lines beginning with a cross. Decorations above and below. Border of dots.

  
κυρ..
οηθ̣..
τσδ̣.
λ
  

Κύρ[ιε] βοήθ[ει] τῷ σῷ δ[ού]λῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines ending with a decoration. Decoration below. Border of dots.

  
..τιο
..γηστρο
.ονταρο
ν̣ιτ,
  

[Ἀ]σωτίο [μα]γήστρο [τ]ὸν Ταρονίτ(ην)

Obverse

Inscription of four lines beginning with a cross. Decorations above and below. Border of dots.

  
κυρ..
οηθ̣..
τσδ̣.
λ
  

Κύρ[ιε] βοήθ[ει] τῷ σῷ δ[ού]λῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines ending with a decoration. Decoration below. Border of dots.

  
..τιο
..γηστρο
.ονταρο
ν̣ιτ,
  

[Ἀ]σωτίο [μα]γήστρο [τ]ὸν Ταρονίτ(ην)

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1539
Diameter 26.0 mm
Previous Editions

J.-C. Cheynet, "Les arméniens dans l'armée byzantine au Xe siècle," Travaux et mémoires 18 (2014), 180.

Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore.

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Ἀσωτίο μαγήστρο τὸν Ταρονίτην.

Lord, help your servant the magistros Asotios Taronites.

Commentary

Note the switch in cases from the dative in the invocation to the accusative in the owner's name. On the owner of the seal, and for further reading, see Stratos Nikolaros, “Die Taronitai. Eine prosopographisch-sigillographische Studie,” Millennium 14 (2017), 227-291, no. 4.