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Michael protospatharios, mystographos, and judge of the Hippodrome of Boleron, Strymon, and Thessalonica (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Michael holding scepter surmounted by trefoil ornament, and globus surmounted by a long cross. Visible at right: Χ: Μιχαήλ. No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of seven lines, the final two letters between horizontal bars. Border of dots.

.ΙΧΑΗΛΑ
ΣΠΑΘ,ΜΥΣΤΟ
ΓΡΑΦΚΡΙΤΗ
.Π,ΤΙΟΔΡ,
.ΟΛΕΡ,ΣΤΡ,ΜΟ
ΘΕΣΑΛΟ
Ν,Κ,

Μιχαὴλ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ, μυστογράφῳ, κριτῇ π τοῦ Ἱπποδρόμου Βολεροῦ, Στρυμόνος καὶ Θεσαλονίκης

Obverse

Bust of St. Michael holding scepter surmounted by trefoil ornament, and globus surmounted by a long cross. Visible at right: Χ: Μιχαήλ. No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of seven lines, the final two letters between horizontal bars. Border of dots.

.ΙΧΑΗΛΑ
ΣΠΑΘ,ΜΥΣΤΟ
ΓΡΑΦΚΡΙΤΗ
.Π,ΤΙΟΔΡ,
.ΟΛΕΡ,ΣΤΡ,ΜΟ
ΘΕΣΑΛΟ
Ν,Κ,

Μιχαὴλ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ, μυστογράφῳ, κριτῇ π τοῦ Ἱπποδρόμου Βολεροῦ, Στρυμόνος καὶ Θεσαλονίκης

Accession number BZS.1958.106.2529
Diameter 25.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 18.25a.
Cf. another specimen from the same boulloterion, published in Zacos, Seals II, no. 594.

Translation

Μιχαὴλ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ, μυστογράφῳ, κριτῇ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἱπποδρόμου Βολεροῦ, Στρυμόνος καὶ Θεσαλονίκης.

Michael protospatharios, mystographos, judge of the Hippodrome of Boleron, Strymon, and Thessalonica.

Commentary

It is possible that the owner of this seal was the protospatharios (?) and judge Michael Serblias, who favored the bishop of Ezova at the expense of the monastery of Iviron, most probably short after 1029: Iviron II, no. 34, line 7 and notes, p. 94 (document of 1062: published, with erroneous reading of Michael's title, in Dölger, Schatzkammern, no. 57).

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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Actes d’Iviron (Open in Zotero)
  • Aus den Schatzkammern des Heiligen Berges, 115 Urkunden und 50 Urkundensiegel aus 10 Jahrhunderten (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)