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Pantherios imperial protospatharios and strategos of the Thrakesioi (tenth century)

 
 

Obverse

Patriarchal cross on three steps with fleurons arising from base (up to the lower traverse bar). Circular inscription along a border of dots:

+κεRο..τσδλ/

Κ(ύρι)ε βο[ήθ(ει)] τῷ σῷ δούλ(ῳ)

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

+πν
θυρηR
σπθρ,S
στρτηγ,
τονθρ
κισ

Πανθύρῃ β(ασιλικῷ) (πρωτο)σπαθαρ(ίῳ) (καὶ) στρατηγ(ῷ) τον Θρᾳκισ(ίων)

Obverse

Patriarchal cross on three steps with fleurons arising from base (up to the lower traverse bar). Circular inscription along a border of dots:

+κεRο..τσδλ/

Κ(ύρι)ε βο[ήθ(ει)] τῷ σῷ δούλ(ῳ)

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

+πν
θυρηR
σπθρ,S
στρτηγ,
τονθρ
κισ

Πανθύρῃ β(ασιλικῷ) (πρωτο)σπαθαρ(ίῳ) (καὶ) στρατηγ(ῷ) τον Θρᾳκισ(ίων)

Accession number BZS.1955.1.1601
Diameter 20.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 2.48a.

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

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Πανθύρῃ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ τον Θρᾳκισίων.

Lord, help your servant Pantherios, imperial protospatharios and strategos of the Thrakesioi.

Commentary

This seal, BZS.1958.106.4164, and BZS.1951.31.5.374 appear to have come from the same boulloterion, which may have been retooled; otherwise, they may issue from boulloteria meant to be exact copies of each other.

The owner's name should be read as Πανθήριος, misspelt on the seal in an unexpected way. It is not impossible that he is identical to the owner of BZS.1951.31.5.2861, a roughly contemporary seal with the same name, titles, and iconography but the work of a more sophisticated engraver.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
  • Constantini Porphyrogeniti De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional, and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900 (Open in Zotero)
  • Theophanis Chronographia (Open in Zotero)
  • L’histoire et la géographie de la région de Smyrne entre les deux occupations turques (1081-1317), particulièrement au XIIIe siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • “Thrakien” und “Thrakesion” (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)