Michael imperial spatharios, imperial notarios and anagrapheus of Lykandos (eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of St. Michael, holding a long scepter and a globus. Remains of a vertical inscription: ι- : [Μ]ι[χα(ήλ)]. Border of dots.
Obverse
Bust of St. Michael, holding a long scepter and a globus. Remains of a vertical inscription: ι- : [Μ]ι[χα(ήλ)]. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.
Μ̣Ι̣
.σπαθ.ΡΙ̣
̣νοταρι
.αναγραφ
.λικανˊ
-δ,-
Μιχ(αὴλ) [β(ασιλικῷ)] σπαθ[α]ρί(ῳ), β(ασιλικῷ) νοταρίῳ [(καὶ)] ἀναγραφ(εῖ) [τ]οῦ Λικανδ(οῦ)
Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.27 |
---|---|
Diameter | 25.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 4, no. 53.1. |
Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Μιχαὴλ βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ, βασιλικῷ νοταρίῳ καὶ ἀναγραφεῖ τοῦ Λικανδοῦ.
Michael imperial spatharios, imperial notarios, and anagrapheus of Lykandos.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
- De Administrando Imperio (Open in Zotero)
- Histoire de la dynastie des H’amdanides de Jazîra et de Syrie (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
- Michaelis Attaliotae Historia (Open in Zotero)
- Sigillographie de l’Empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Katalog molivdovulov (Open in Zotero)
- Sfragistika (Open in Zotero)
- Kappadokien (Kappadokia, Charsianon, Sebasteia und Lykandos) (Open in Zotero)
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- Mleh le Grand (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
The restitution of the name Michael is supported by the image on the obverse. Instead of βασιλικὸς σπαθάριος, Michael may have been a (πρωτο)σπαθάριος but there is no decisive evidence either way. The engraver has added a superfluous abbreviation sign at the end of line 5 of the obverse, probably because he expected to complete the sixth line with a decoration.
Lykandos or Likandos or Likandon (formerly Lapara), mentioned as a feminine name but sometimes also as a masculine, was situated in the region east of Caesarea; it was first a kleisoura created by the Armenian Melias. For a century and a half after 916 it was the seat of a strategos (whose authority extended also over neighboring Tzamandos, cf. De Adm. Imp. ch. 50, l. 157 and Canard, Hamdanides, 780 [954, mention of a “patrice de Lykandos et de Tzamandos"]) and later of a katepano. The seal of a katepano τῶν Λυκανδνῶν (Zacos, Seals II, no. 437) shows that this official was at the head of a military contingent. The theme is attested until the reign of Romanos IV Diogenes (Attaleiates, 105). It had a normal administration including protonotarioi (two seals in Sig., 282, 283, another one in Pancenko, Katalog, no. 471 and Sandrovskaja, Sfragistika, no. 818). See Hild-Restle, Kappadokien, 224-226; Oikonomides, Listes, 350; G. Dédéyan, Mleh le Grand, Revue des Etudes Arméniennes 15 (1981) 73-102; Mikra Asia them., 307-313, 475-478 (T. Lounghis).