Skip to Content

Basil hypatos and protonotarios of the Strymon (ninth century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ.|ΔΛ. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Wreath border.

ΒΣΙ
ΛΕΙΥΠ
ΝΟΤΤ
ΣΤΡΜ

Βασιλείῳ ὑπάτῳ καὶ πρωτονοταρίῳ τοῦ Στρωμόνος

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ.|ΔΛ. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Wreath border.

ΒΣΙ
ΛΕΙΥΠ
ΝΟΤΤ
ΣΤΡΜ

Βασιλείῳ ὑπάτῳ καὶ πρωτονοταρίῳ τοῦ Στρωμόνος

Accession number BZS.1958.106.2436
Diameter 36.0 mm; field: 31.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 37.2.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 1772.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Βασιλείῳ ὑπάτῳ καὶ πρωτονοταρίῳ τοῦ Στρωμόνος.

Theotokos, help your servant Basil hypatos and protonotarios of the Strymon.

Commentary

This seal dates before the middle of the ninth century (note the beta with two loops and the presence of a wreath border).

The earliest textual mention of a strategos of the Strymon (also spelled Στρομών, Στρωμών) occurs in the Treatise of Philotheos (899; see Listes, 101, line 25). But we note that DO Seals 1, 37.2-3 definitely date before the mid-ninth century, about the time when the theme of Thessalonica was established (836 or earlier, 824: DO Seals 1, § 18). The theme of Strymon may originate in the late 840s, for, as noted by Lemerle and others, there is no mention of this theme in the Uspenskij Taktikon (842-843; see the discussion in Pertusi, De Thematibus, 166-67). On the upper hand, Serres, which would have served along with Christoupolis as the capital of the theme, was elevated from a bishopric to an archbishopric in the first half of the ninth century, a circumstance that may not be coincidental. In the eighth century, the Strymon was a kleisoura of Macedonia (De Them., chap. 3, line 2), but there was also an archon of the Strymon (DO Seals 1, no. 37.1).

Bibliography