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Pothos Monomachos, orphanotrophos and judge of the Armeniakoi (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. George, beardless, holding a martyr's cross before him. Vertical inscription on either side: |γ|ε-ω|ρ|γ, : Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Γεώργ(ιος). Remains of a circular inscription within a border of dots:

+κε.....ποθ

Κ(ύρι)ε [βοήθει] Πόθῳ

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

.
ορφν
τροφκρι
τ,τνρμε
ικντ
ΜονοΜ
Χ

ὀρφανοτρόφῳ, κριτ(ῇ) τῶν Ἀρμε[ν]ιακῶν τῷ Μονομάχῳ

Obverse

Bust of St. George, beardless, holding a martyr's cross before him. Vertical inscription on either side: |γ|ε-ω|ρ|γ, : Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Γεώργ(ιος). Remains of a circular inscription within a border of dots:

+κε.....ποθ

Κ(ύρι)ε [βοήθει] Πόθῳ

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

.
ορφν
τροφκρι
τ,τνρμε
ικντ
ΜονοΜ
Χ

ὀρφανοτρόφῳ, κριτ(ῇ) τῶν Ἀρμε[ν]ιακῶν τῷ Μονομάχῳ

Accession number BZS.1958.106.2211
Diameter 21.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 4, no. 22.18a.

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει Πόθῳ ὀρφανοτρόφῳ, κριτῇ τῶν Ἀρμενιακῶν τῷ Μονομάχῳ.

Lord, help Pothos Monomachos, orphantotrophos and judge of the Armeniakoi.

Commentary

This specimen and BZS.1958.106.861 seem to come from the same boulloterion.

The Monomachos family seems to have had a special devotion to St. George. Cf. DO Seals 3, no. 39.10 (BZS.1958.106.1436). While Pothos kept his provincial appointment as judge of the Armeniakoi, he was also appointed to the Constantinopolitan position of orphanotrophos — or vice versa, he obtained the appointment in the province while he was the Constantinopolitan orphanotrophos. We also know of a certain John who accumulated the positions of orphanotrophos and judge of the Armeniakoi (REB 23, 1965, 211) and we have several examples of officials with important Constantinopolitan appointments who went after the more lucrative posts of provincial judges without abandoning their original administrative position. See, for example, DO Seals 3, nos. 2.11, 2.29, 2.30, 39.3, 39.10, 39.12, 86.27, 86.28, 86.34. See John W. Nesbitt, "The Orphanotrophos: Some observations on the history of the office in light of seals," SBS 8 (2003), 59.

For the present entry, where we had first misread the name as Nikephoros, we are particularly grateful for the corrections proposed by W. Seibt.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
  • The Armeniac Theme and the Fate of Its Leaders (Open in Zotero)
  • Les sceaux byzantins de la Collection Henri Seyrig (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • De Thematibus (Open in Zotero)
  • Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Open in Zotero)
  • Η Μικρά Ασία των θεμάτων. Ἐρευνες πάνω στην γεωγραφική φυσιογνωμία και προσωπογραφία των βυζαντινών θεμάτων της Μικράς Ασίας (Open in Zotero)
  • Istoriceskoe znacenie italo-greceskoj ikonopisi: Izobra zenija Bogomatera v prozvedenijah italo-greceskih ikonopiscev i ih vlijanie na kompozicii nekotoryh proslavlennyh russkih ikon (Open in Zotero)