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David Geiton (?), imperial spatharokandidatos and episkeptites of Tephrike (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.


+κεRο
ιθ,δα̅δR̅
..αθαρ
καν

Κ(ύρι)ε βοΐθ(ει) Δα(βὶ)δ β(ασιλικῷ) [σπ]αθαρ(ο)κανδ(ι)δ(άτῳ)

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.


Sεπησ
Sτ,τεφρ
ηκηστο
.ητο.

(καὶ) ἐπησ(κεπ)τ(ίτῃ) Τεφρηκῆς το [Γ]ητο[ν(ι)]

Obverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.


+κεRο
ιθ,δα̅δR̅
..αθαρ
καν

Κ(ύρι)ε βοΐθ(ει) Δα(βὶ)δ β(ασιλικῷ) [σπ]αθαρ(ο)κανδ(ι)δ(άτῳ)

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.


Sεπησ
Sτ,τεφρ
ηκηστο
.ητο.

(καὶ) ἐπησ(κεπ)τ(ίτῃ) Τεφρηκῆς το [Γ]ητο[ν(ι)]

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.3694
Diameter 25.0 mm; field: 15.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 4, no. 71.1.

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

Translation

Κύριε βοΐθει Δαβὶδ βασιλικῷ σπαθαροκανδιδάτῳ καὶ ἐπησκεπτίτῃ Τεφρηκῆς το Γητονι.

Lord, help David Geiton, imperial spatharokandidatos and episkeptites of Tephrike.

Commentary

The restoration of the family name is tentative. Our seal shows that part of the territories of Tephrike had been organized in as an imperial estate (episkepsis).

Today Divrigi, 100 km southeast of Sivas, Tephrike was the stronghold of the Paulicians. It was captured by Basil I in 878 and established as a kleisoura (renamed Leontokome, the town of Leo, after Basil’s son, Leo, and certainly not after a κόμης Λέων as has been suggested) during the reign of Leo VI. Tephrike subsequently became the seat of a strategos sometime between 934 and 944 and remained a theme well into the eleventh century (Listes, 350; “Organisation,” 291; Hild-Restle, Kappadokien, 294-95; ODB 3, 2025; Sinclair II, 394 ff; Mikra Asia them., 337-341 [A. Savvides]; J. M. Thierry, “La région de Divrik,” Handes Amsorya 109 [1995] 324-359).

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • L’organisation de la frontière orientale de Byzance aux Xe-XIe siècles et Le Taktikon de l’Escorial (Open in Zotero)
  • Kappadokien (Kappadokia, Charsianon, Sebasteia und Lykandos) (Open in Zotero)
  • Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Open in Zotero)
  • Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archaeological Survey (Open in Zotero)
  • Η Μικρά Ασία των θεμάτων. Ἐρευνες πάνω στην γεωγραφική φυσιογνωμία και προσωπογραφία των βυζαντινών θεμάτων της Μικράς Ασίας (Open in Zotero)
  • La région de Divrik (Open in Zotero)