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Nicholas Trellos (?), imperial protospatharios and strategos of the Peloponnesos (tenth/eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Nicholas. Traces of a vertical inscription at l.: |Ν|Ι: Ὁ ἅγιος Νικόλαος. Circular inscription along a border of dots.

ΑΓΙΕΝΙΚΟΛ

Ἅγιε Νικόλαε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of five lines with decoration below. Border of dots.

ΚΟ
ˊΑˊΣΠ
ΣΤΡΑ
ΕΛΟΠ
ΟΤΡΕΛ

Νικολάῳ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Πελοποννήσου ὁ Τρελλός

Obverse

Bust of St. Nicholas. Traces of a vertical inscription at l.: |Ν|Ι: Ὁ ἅγιος Νικόλαος. Circular inscription along a border of dots.

ΑΓΙΕΝΙΚΟΛ

Ἅγιε Νικόλαε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of five lines with decoration below. Border of dots.

ΚΟ
ˊΑˊΣΠ
ΣΤΡΑ
ΕΛΟΠ
ΟΤΡΕΛ

Νικολάῳ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Πελοποννήσου ὁ Τρελλός

Accession number BZS.1955.1.3453
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 22.32.

Translation

Ἅγιε Νικόλαε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Νικολάῳ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Πελοποννήσου ὁ Τρελλός.

St. Nicholas, help your servant Nicholas Trellos, imperial protospatharios and strategos of the Peloponnesos.

Commentary

The inconsistency of case between the invocation, requiring a dative, and the family name, in the nominative, presents no difficulty as it occurs quite often. For this reason we have not deemed it necessary to dissociate the obverse (invocation) from the reverse and write out the inscription of the latter in the nominative (which is also very possible). The reading of the family name is uncertain because the Λ at the end is very small and unclear.

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)
  • La Morée franque: Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d’Achaïe (1205-1430) (Open in Zotero)
  • Die Skleroi: Eine prosopographisch-sigillographische Studie (Open in Zotero)
  • Theophanis Chronographia (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Realities of Byzantine Provincial Government: Hellas and Peloponnesos, 1180-1205 (Open in Zotero)
  • Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)