Skip to Content

Kosmas dioiketes of Euboia (eighth century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type VIII); in the quarters: ΤΩΔ|ΛΩΣ. Wreath border.

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ δούλῳ σου

Reverse

Inscription of three lines with decoration below (and above?). Indeterminate border.

ΚΟΣΜΑ
ΔΙΟΙΚ/
ΕΥΒΥΗΣ

Κοσμᾷ διοικητῇ Εὐβύης

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type VIII); in the quarters: ΤΩΔ|ΛΩΣ. Wreath border.

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ δούλῳ σου

Reverse

Inscription of three lines with decoration below (and above?). Indeterminate border.

ΚΟΣΜΑ
ΔΙΟΙΚ/
ΕΥΒΥΗΣ

Κοσμᾷ διοικητῇ Εὐβύης

Accession number BZS.1958.106.1801
Diameter 25.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 13.1.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 2078a (with mentions of other specimens of this seal).

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ δούλῳ σου Κοσμᾷ διοικητῇ Εὐβύης.

Lord, help your servant Kosmas dioiketes of Euboia.

Commentary

Note the Ionic ending -ης. This grammatical form is used in many Byzantine texts (Psaltes, Grammatik, 143). Zacos-Veglery (no. 2078b) have published seals of the same individual but from a different boulloterion. Cf. DO Seals 2, no. 8.6.

The island of Euboia, lying off the northeast coast of Boeotia, retained its ancient name in the Middle Ages; it also went by the name of its capital, Euripos. See ODB II, 736-37; Koder-Hild, Hellas, 46; and Koder, Negroponte, 63.

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)
  • Grammatik der byzantinischen Chroniken (Open in Zotero)
  • Hellas und Thessalia (Open in Zotero)
  • Negroponte: Untersuchungen zur Topographie und Siedlungsgeschichte der Insel Euboia während der Zeit der Venezianerherrschaft (Open in Zotero)