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Nicholas Spanopoulos, judge of the Hippodrome and of the Optimatoi (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of a bishop-saint (St. Nicholas) blessing and holding book. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of seven lines preceded by decoration. Border of dots.

   
+ΝΙΚΟ.
ΑΣΠΑΘ,ΚΡ.
Τ,ΕΠΙΤΙΠ.
.ΡΟΜ,ΤΟ.
.ΠΤΙΜΑΤ
ΟΣΠΑΝΟΠ,
Λ

Νικόλαος πρωτοσπαθάριος, κριτὴς ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰπποδρόμου καὶ τον Ὀπτιμάτων ὁ Σπανοπούλος

Obverse

Bust of a bishop-saint (St. Nicholas) blessing and holding book. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of seven lines preceded by decoration. Border of dots.

   
+ΝΙΚΟ.
ΑΣΠΑΘ,ΚΡ.
Τ,ΕΠΙΤΙΠ.
.ΡΟΜ,ΤΟ.
.ΠΤΙΜΑΤ
ΟΣΠΑΝΟΠ,
Λ

Νικόλαος πρωτοσπαθάριος, κριτὴς ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰπποδρόμου καὶ τον Ὀπτιμάτων ὁ Σπανοπούλος

Accession number BZS.1958.106.2925
Diameter 31.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 71.26.

Translation

Νικόλαος πρωτοσπαθάριος, κριτὴς ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰπποδρόμου καὶ τον Ὀπτιμάτων ὁ Σπανόπουλος.

Nicholas Spanopoulos, protospatharios, judge of the Hippodrome and of the Optimatoi.

Commentary

For the Spanopoulos family, cf. Seibt, Blesiegel, no. 150, where the present specimen also appears. See also DOSeals 2.40.16.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
  • Die byzantinischen Bleisiegel in Österreich, Vol. 1, Kaiserhof (Open in Zotero)
  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor (Open in Zotero)
  • Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional, and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900 (Open in Zotero)
  • Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)