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Constantine protokentarchos of Aigaion Pelagos (tenth/eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. George with spear and shield. Vertical inscription: |Γ|ΕΟ|Ρ|ΓΙ|Ο: Ὁ ἅγιος Γεόργιος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription. Double linear border.

.ΚΝ
ΣΤΑΝΤΙΝ
ΑΚΕΝΤΑΡ
Χ,ΤΕΓΕ
ΠΕΛΑΓ,

Κωνσταντῖνος πρωτοκένταρχος τοῦ Ἐγέου Πελάγους

Obverse

Bust of St. George with spear and shield. Vertical inscription: |Γ|ΕΟ|Ρ|ΓΙ|Ο: Ὁ ἅγιος Γεόργιος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription. Double linear border.

.ΚΝ
ΣΤΑΝΤΙΝ
ΑΚΕΝΤΑΡ
Χ,ΤΕΓΕ
ΠΕΛΑΓ,

Κωνσταντῖνος πρωτοκένταρχος τοῦ Ἐγέου Πελάγους

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.2368
Diameter 26.0 mm; field: 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 40.24.

Translation

Κωνσταντῖνος πρωτοκένταρχος τοῦ Ἐγέου Πελάγους.

Constantine protokentarchos of Aigaion Pelagos.

Commentary

When used in connection with a non-maritime theme, kentarchos refers to the commander of a detachment of (100?) spatharioi, the guard of the strategos; when it is used in association with a maritime theme, it signifies the commander of a warship or dromon (Listes, 341). The designation "protokentarchos" does not appear in the taktika although it certainly was in existence around 900, as shown by seals (list in Laurent, Orghidan, no. 220; cf. Zacos, Seals II, no. 673); six protokentarchoi were members of the entourage of the strategos of the Thrakesion are mentioned in 911 (Cer., 663), and the protokentarchoi appear regularly as subordinates of the provincial strategoi or doukes in archival documents (the earliest that we know is in act of 995: Actes d'Iviron I, ed. J. Lefort, N. Oikonomides, D. Papachryssanthou [Paris, 1985], no. 8, lines 11-12).

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Actes d’Iviron (Open in Zotero)
  • Methodii Patriarchae Constantinopolitani Vita S. Theophanis Confessoris: e codice mosquensi no. 159 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)