Leo imperial protospatharios and strategos of Thessalonike (ninth century)
Obverse
Patriarchal cross on steps with crosslet of dots in each of the upper quarters and fleurons rising from the base (up to the first transverse bar). Circular inscription between two borders of dots.
ΚΕΟΗΘΗΤΣΔΟΥΛ,
Κύριε βοήθη τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. Double border of dots.
ΛΕΟΝ
ΣΠΘ
ΚΣΤΡΤ,
ΘΕΣΛ
Λέοντι βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Θεσαλονίκης
Obverse
Patriarchal cross on steps with crosslet of dots in each of the upper quarters and fleurons rising from the base (up to the first transverse bar). Circular inscription between two borders of dots.
ΚΕΟΗΘΗΤΣΔΟΥΛ,
Κύριε βοήθη τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. Double border of dots.
ΛΕΟΝ
ΣΠΘ
ΚΣΤΡΤ,
ΘΕΣΛ
Λέοντι βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Θεσαλονίκης
| Accession number | BZS.1958.106.2218 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 24.0 mm; field: 20.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 1, no. 18.67. |
Translation
Κύριε βοήθη τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Λέοντι βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Θεσαλονίκης.
Lord, help your servant Leo imperial protospatharios and strategos of Thessalonike.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
- Plombs byzantins de la Grèce et du Péleponnèse (Open in Zotero)
- Sigillographie de l’Empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Βυζαντιακὰ μολυβδόβουλλα τοῦ ἐν ἈΘήναις Ἐθνικοῦ Νομισματικοῦ Μουσείου (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- Μολυβδόβουλλα από τα υπερώα της Αγίας Σοφίας Θεσσαλονίκης (Open in Zotero)
- Inventaires en vue d’un recueil des inscriptions historiques de Byzance, I, Inscriptions de Thessalonique (Open in Zotero)
- De expugnatione Thessalonicae (Open in Zotero)
- Theophanes Continuatus, Ioannes Cameniata, Symeon Magister, Georgius Monachus (Open in Zotero)
- Silk Trade and Production in Byzantium from the Sixth to the Ninth Century: The Seals of Kommerkiarioi (Open in Zotero)
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantinische Bleisiegel in Berlin (West) (Open in Zotero)
- Le kommerkion d’Abydos, Thessalonique et le commerce bulgare du 9e siècle (Open in Zotero)
- Recherches sur les douanes à Byzance: L’octava, le "kommerkion" et les commerciares (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de Saint Démétrius et la pénétration des Slaves dans les Balkans (Open in Zotero)
- L’éparque de Thessalonique: les origines d'une institution administrative (VIIIe-IXe siècles) (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Four other specimens with the same decoration and inscription, but from different boulloteria, are published: (1) Mordtmann, RA [1879] 197; (2) Sig. 727-28 = Konstantopoulos, no. 8; (3) Zacos, Seals II, no. 219; and (4) the exhibition catalogue Θεσσαλονίκη. Ἰστορία καὶ Τέχνη (Athens, 1986, IV, 31) = S. Kissas, Μολυβδόβουλλα από τα υπερώα της Αγίας Σοφίας Θεσσαλονίκης, SBS 2 (1990) 189-91. All five specimens appear to date from the same period and may have been issued by the same person, most probably Λέων τοῦ Χιτζιλάκη, imperial protospatharios and strategos of Thessalonica, who is mentioned in an inscription engraved on the city's sea walls in 904 (cf. Spieser, Inscriptions de Thessalonique, 162-63, no. 12): he was the unsuccessful defender of Thessalonike against Leo of Tripolis (G. Böhlig, Ioannis Caminiatae, De expugnatione Thessalonicae, CFHB 4 [Berlin-New York, 1973], para. 18-20; Theophanes Cont., 368; etc.). But as Kissas remarked (SBS 2 [1990] 191), Leo Chitzilakios was strategos of Thessalonica for only a few months and could hardly have used up five boulloteria; hence Kissas hypothesizes that another protospatharios and strategos of Thessalonica named Leo must have existed at approximately the same period.