Skip to Content

Tarasios hypatos and archon of the Kibyrraiotai (eighth century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the four angles: ΤΑΡΑ|ΣΙΩ. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Ταρασίῳ

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Wreath border.

ΥΠ
ΤΩΡΧ
ΟΝΤΙΤΩ
ΝΚΥΒΕΡΙ
ΟΤΩΝ

ὑπάτῳ (καὶ) ἄρχοντι τῶν Κυβεριοτῶν

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the four angles: ΤΑΡΑ|ΣΙΩ. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Ταρασίῳ

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Wreath border.

ΥΠ
ΤΩΡΧ
ΟΝΤΙΤΩ
ΝΚΥΒΕΡΙ
ΟΤΩΝ

ὑπάτῳ (καὶ) ἄρχοντι τῶν Κυβεριοτῶν

Accession number BZS.1955.1.663
Diameter 31.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 59.1a.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Ταρασίῳ ὑπάτῳ καὶ ἄρχοντι τῶν Κυβεριοτῶν.

Theotokos, help Tarasios hypatos and archon of the Kibyrraiotai.

Commentary

The owner of the present seal was a rather high official as he bears the title of hypatos, still important in the eighth century. We can only speculate about his powers because the present seal has no parallel and dates from a period in which it is uncertain (although seems to us very probably) if a strategos of the Kibyrraiotai had already been appointed. We wonder whether Tarasios had authority only over the city of Kibyrra (which gave its name to the theme) or whether he was not in charge of a specific group of inhabitants of the region, who, for some reason, had their own commander, such as the Mardaïtai with their katepano (DO Seals 2, § 70).

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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Karallia, Kibyra Minor, and Mylome/Justinianupolis (Open in Zotero)
  • Theophanis Chronographia (Open in Zotero)
  • Ioannis Zonarae Epitome Historiarum (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische metrologische Quellen (Open in Zotero)
  • De Administrando Imperio (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierosolymitikē Vivliothēkē, ētoi Katalogos tōn en tais vivliothēkais : tou hagiōtatou apostolikou te kai katholikou orthodoxou patriarchikou thronou tōn Hierosolymōn kai pasēs Palaistinēs apokeimenōn Hellēnikōn Kōdikōn (Open in Zotero)
  • Sigillographie de l’Empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Les sceaux byzantins de la Collection Henri Seyrig (Open in Zotero)
  • Du stratège de thème au duc: chronologie de l’évolution au cours du XIe siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Τὸ ναυτικὸ θέμα τῶν Κιβυρραιωτῶν: Συμβολὴ στὸ πρόβλημα τῆς ἴδρυσής Του (Open in Zotero)
  • Cibyrra et Cibyrréotes (Open in Zotero)