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Nikephoros Dekanos, kouropalates and anagrapheus of Nisos (eleventh/twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Inscription of four lines. No visible border.

.ΚΕ
ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡ
ΚΡΟΠΑ
ΛΑΤΙ

Κύριε βοήθει Νικηφόρ κουροπαλάτι

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. No visible border.

....
ΑΝΑΓΡΑ
ΝΗΣΤ
ΔΕΚΑΝ

...καὶ ἀναγραφεῖ Νήσου τ Δεκαν

Obverse

Inscription of four lines. No visible border.

.ΚΕ
ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡ
ΚΡΟΠΑ
ΛΑΤΙ

Κύριε βοήθει Νικηφόρ κουροπαλάτι

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. No visible border.

....
ΑΝΑΓΡΑ
ΝΗΣΤ
ΔΕΚΑΝ

...καὶ ἀναγραφεῖ Νήσου τ Δεκαν

Accession number BZS.1958.106.2577
Diameter 16.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 32.1.

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει Νικηφόρῳ κουροπαλάτι ...καὶ ἀναγραφεῖ Νήσου τῷ Δεκανῷ.

Lord, help Nikephoros Dekanos kouropalates ... and anagrapheus of Nisos.

Commentary

A Nikephoros, son of Dekanos, was entrusted with the government of Constantinople in 1107, and could well be the owner of this seal (cf. Skoulatos, Personnages, 238-39).

Modern Niš in Serbia. The ancient city of Naissus, retaken by the Byzantines in the early eleventh century and called ὁ Νίσος, became the seat of a strategos and gave its name to a theme known, inter alia, from Alexiade III, 178. It had been an episcopal see from the time of Samuel and continued as such under the Byzantines. It became a metropolis only in the late twelfth century. See Zakythinos, létai 17 (1941) 228-29 and V. Laurent in Byzantion 31 (1961) 43-56 and Corpus V/2, no. 1510.

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)
  • Les personnages byzantins de l’Alexiade: Analyse prosopographique et synthèse (Open in Zotero)
  • Alexiade: Règne de l’empereur Alexis I Comnène, 1081–1118 (Open in Zotero)
  • Μελέται περὶ τῆς διοικητικῆς διαιρέσεως καὶ τῆς ἐπαρχιακῆς διοικήσεως ἐν τῷ βυζαντινῷ κράτει (Open in Zotero)
  • Une métropole serbe éphémère sur le rôle du patriarcat oecuménique: Nisos-Nis, au temps d’Isaac II Ange (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)