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Thomas (?) hypatos and imperial (?) spatharios (eighth century, second quarter)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform monogram. Traces of an inscription in circumference. Indeterminate border.

θ - ω

ουπο

Θω[μᾶ] ὑπάτου

[Ἐξελοῦ με, Κ(ύρι)ε, ἐξ ἀνθρώπ]ου πο[νηροῦ]

Reverse

Cruciform monogram. In the corners: .πθ|ρι. Inscription along the circumference between interior wreath border and an indeterminate outer border.

α - β - ι - κ - ο - ρ - υ

νδροσαδικο

βασιλικοῦ σπαθαρίου

. . . νδροσαδικο. . .

Obverse

Cruciform monogram. Traces of an inscription in circumference. Indeterminate border.

θ - ω

ουπο

Θω[μᾶ] ὑπάτου

[Ἐξελοῦ με, Κ(ύρι)ε, ἐξ ἀνθρώπ]ου πο[νηροῦ]

Reverse

Cruciform monogram. In the corners: .πθ|ρι. Inscription along the circumference between interior wreath border and an indeterminate outer border.

α - β - ι - κ - ο - ρ - υ

νδροσαδικο

βασιλικοῦ σπαθαρίου

. . . νδροσαδικο. . .

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.3317
Diameter 24.0 mm
Previous Editions

Joe Glynias, "Prayerful Iconoclasts. Psalm Seals and Elite Formation in the First Iconoclast Era (726-750)," DOP 71 (2017), 93 (no. 21).

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

Translation

Θωμᾶ . . . ὑπάτου καὶ βασιλικοῦ σπαθαρίου. Ἐξελοῦ με, Κύριε, ἐξ ἀνθρώπου πονηροῦ; ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἀδίκου καὶ δολίου ῥῦσέ με.

(Seal of) Thomas . . . hypatos and imperial spatharios. Deliver me, Lord, from the evil man; preserve me from the unjust and deceitful man.

Commentary

This seal is too worn for a secure reading; the name is reconstructed from the two relatively extant termini of the obverse cruciform. The obverse circular inscription is essentially illegible. The reverse clearly contains the title spatharios. The circular inscription is quite possibly from Psalm 139, as on BZS.1951.31.5.3701, as the words [ἀ]νδρὸς ἀ[δίκου] can be reconstructed. However, so little of the inscription is legible that it is impossible to be certain.