Manuel Barsakes, imperial protospatharios and strategos of Hellas (tenth/eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin with the medallion of Christ before her. Sigla (without the expected abbreviation marks): ΜΡΘΥ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Along a border of dots, on either side of the head of the Virgin, inscription.
....ΘΚΕ.ΘˊΤΟΣΔ,
Ἁγία? Θεοτόκε βοήθει το σῷ δούλῳ
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin with the medallion of Christ before her. Sigla (without the expected abbreviation marks): ΜΡΘΥ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Along a border of dots, on either side of the head of the Virgin, inscription.
....ΘΚΕ.ΘˊΤΟΣΔ,
Ἁγία? Θεοτόκε βοήθει το σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.
ΜΑΝ
ΟΥΗΛ̀Α
ΣΠ,Θ,SΣΤ
ΡΑΤΙΓΕ
ΛΑΔΑΣΟ
ΑΡΣΑΚ
Μανουὴλ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατιγῷ Ἑλάδας ὁ Βαρσάκης
Accession number | BZS.1955.1.2941 |
---|---|
Diameter | 26.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 2, no. 8.49a. |
Translation
Ἁγία Θεοτόκε βοήθει το σῷ δούλῳ Μανουὴλ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατιγῷ Ἑλάδας ὁ Βαρσάκης.
Holy Mother of God, help your servant Manuel Barsakes imperial protospatharios and strategos of Hellas.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantinoturcica (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- Le Peloponnese byzantin jusqu’en 1204 (Open in Zotero)
- Du stratège de thème au duc: chronologie de l’évolution au cours du XIe siècle (Open in Zotero)
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- Hellas und Thessalia (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
- Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
The last letter of the reverse seems to be a Κ. Βαρσάκης is an Armenian first name (cf. DO Seals 2, nos. 1.8 and 8.41) which could easily become a family name. But Βαρσάκιδες (sing. Βαρσάκης) is also the name of a Turkish tribe of Pisidia, attested in the 14th and 15th centuries (Moravcsik, Byzantinoturcica II, 87).