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Christopher imperial protospatharios epi tou Chrysotriklinou and domestic of the Optimatoi (tenth century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram: Θ in center, and Ω below, Κ at left, Ρ and Υ at the top, and Ι and Ε at right; in the quarters: ....ΔΛ|ΙΣΤΟΦΟΡ. Border of dots.

Κύριε βοήθει [τῷ σῷ] δούλῳ Χριστοφόρῳ

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

+ˊˊΣΠΘ
ΕΠΙΤΟΥΧΡ.
ΣΟΤΡΙΚΛΙΝ
ΔΟΜΕΣΤ,.
ΟΠΤΙΜΤ,

β(ασιλικῷ) (πρωτο)σπαθ(αρίῳ) ἐπὶ τοῦ Χρ[υ]σοτρικλίνου καὶ δομεστ(ίκῳ) [τ(ῶν)] Ὀπτιμάτ(ων)

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram: Θ in center, and Ω below, Κ at left, Ρ and Υ at the top, and Ι and Ε at right; in the quarters: ....ΔΛ|ΙΣΤΟΦΟΡ. Border of dots.

Κύριε βοήθει [τῷ σῷ] δούλῳ Χριστοφόρῳ

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

+ˊˊΣΠΘ
ΕΠΙΤΟΥΧΡ.
ΣΟΤΡΙΚΛΙΝ
ΔΟΜΕΣΤ,.
ΟΠΤΙΜΤ,

β(ασιλικῷ) (πρωτο)σπαθ(αρίῳ) ἐπὶ τοῦ Χρ[υ]σοτρικλίνου καὶ δομεστ(ίκῳ) [τ(ῶν)] Ὀπτιμάτ(ων)

Accession number BZS.1958.106.1534
Diameter 27.0 mm; field: 24.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 71.4. See also J.W. Nesbitt, "Overstruck Seals in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection," SBS 2 (1991) 83-84.

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Χριστοφόρῳ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ ἐπὶ τοῦ Χρυσοτρικλίνου καὶ δομεστίκῳ τῶν Ὀπτιμάτων

Lord, help your servant Christopher, imperial protospatharios, epi tou Chrysotriklinou, and domestic of the Optimatoi.

Commentary

Same owner as seal BZS.1947.2.961: same numbers, titles, date, and matrices.

Along the circumference of the obverse may be seen the following traces of the first strike: ΑΓΗΕΙΩΑΝ,: Ἅγηε Ἰωάν(νη) β(οήθει). On the reverse are preserved five partial lines of inscription: ΟΔ|ˊΣΠ|.ΕΣ|ΑΣΙ|Τ. One may recognize a name like [Θε]οδ[ώρῳ], [Θε]οδ[οσίῳ] etc., the title β(ασιλικῷ) σπ[αθαρίῳ] or (πρωτο)σπ[αθαρίῳ], and the office of ἀσι[κρή]τ(ῃ) or [πρωτο]ασι[κρή]τ(ῃ). But all this is tentative.

We know the seals of several other domestikoi of the Optimatoi: Sig., 244; Zacos-Veglery, no. 2669Aa; Zacos, Seals II, no. 815; the unpublished seal no. 204 of Vienna (TM 9 [1985] 188). But we feel that the restitution propsed in Laurent, Orghidan, no. 222, δο[μεστίκῳ θεοφυλ]άκτ(ων) [Ὀπ]τ(ι)μ[άτων] is unique and too bold to be accepted.

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)
  • Overstruck Seals in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional, and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900 (Open in Zotero)
  • Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)