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George imperial spatharios and strategos of the Boukellarioi (eighth century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: τ-σ|δ-λ. Wreath border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, decorations above and below. Wreath border.


γεωργιω
Bσπθρ/
Sστρτων
Bουτελ
αριω

Γεωργίῳ β(ασιλικῷ) σπαθαρ(ίῳ) (καὶ) στρ(ατηγῷ) τῶν Βουτελαρίω(ν)

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: τ-σ|δ-λ. Wreath border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines, decorations above and below. Wreath border.


γεωργιω
Bσπθρ/
Sστρτων
Bουτελ
αριω

Γεωργίῳ β(ασιλικῷ) σπαθαρ(ίῳ) (καὶ) στρ(ατηγῷ) τῶν Βουτελαρίω(ν)

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.473
Diameter 29.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 4, no. 128. See also Zacos-Veglery, no. 1933. A similar specimen was published by Konstantopoulos, no. 162a (reading the first name as Λέοντι).

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

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Γεωργίῳ βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ τῶν Βουτελαρίων.

Mother of God, help your servant George, imperial spatharios and strategos of the Boutellarioi.

Commentary

The reading BOUTEΛ, otherwise unattested, is clearly visible in the fourth line of the reverse. The present seal, and the Athens specimen published by Konstantopoulos, have all the characteristics of the first half of the eighth century and should thus have belonged to one of the first strategoi of the Boukellarion. We do not know whether its owner should be identified with a George imperial spatharios of the same time period, as proposed by Seibt, Bleisiegel, no. 179.

Bibliography

  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
  • Βυζαντιακὰ μολυβδόβουλλα. Ἡ συλλογὴ Ἀναστασίου Κ. Π. Σταμούλη (Open in Zotero)
  • Die byzantinischen Bleisiegel in Österreich, Vol. 1, Kaiserhof (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional, and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900 (Open in Zotero)
  • Galatien und Lykaonien (Open in Zotero)
  • De Thematibus (Open in Zotero)
  • Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Open in Zotero)
  • Paphlagonien und Honorias (Open in Zotero)
  • Η Μικρά Ασία των θεμάτων. Ἐρευνες πάνω στην γεωγραφική φυσιογνωμία και προσωπογραφία των βυζαντινών θεμάτων της Μικράς Ασίας (Open in Zotero)