Stephanos asekretis and judge of Lykandos (eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin holding a medallion before her. Sigla: ̅-θ̅υ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Tongues of fire. Border of pellets between two borders of dots.
Obverse
Bust of the Virgin holding a medallion before her. Sigla: ̅-θ̅υ : Μ(ήτη)ρ Θ(εο)ῦ. Tongues of fire. Border of pellets between two borders of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of five lines, a decoration below. Border of dots.
θκεR,θ,
τεφανο
ασηκρητ,
Sκριτ,λι
κανδ
– + –
Θ(εοτό)κε β(οή)θ(ει) [Σ]τεφάνο ἀσηκρήτ(ις) (καὶ) κριτ(ῇ) Λικανδοῦ.
Accession number | BZS.1958.106.2926 |
---|---|
Diameter | 27.0 mm; field: 24.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 4, no. 53.4. |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει Στεφάνο ἀσηκρήτις καὶ κριτῇ Λικανδοῦ.
Mother of God, help Stephanos, asekretis and judge of Lykandos.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
- De Administrando Imperio (Open in Zotero)
- Histoire de la dynastie des H’amdanides de Jazîra et de Syrie (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
- Michaelis Attaliotae Historia (Open in Zotero)
- Sigillographie de l’Empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Katalog molivdovulov (Open in Zotero)
- Sfragistika (Open in Zotero)
- Kappadokien (Kappadokia, Charsianon, Sebasteia und Lykandos) (Open in Zotero)
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- Mleh le Grand (Open in Zotero)
- Η Μικρά Ασία των θεμάτων. Ἐρευνες πάνω στην γεωγραφική φυσιογνωμία και προσωπογραφία των βυζαντινών θεμάτων της Μικράς Ασίας (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Lykandos or Likandos or Likandon (formerly Lapara), mentioned as a feminine name but sometimes also as a masculine, was situated in the region east of Caesarea; it was first a kleisoura created by the Armenian Melias. From 916 until the 11th c. it was the seat first of a strategos (whose authority extended also over neighboring Tzamandos, cf. De Adm. Imp. ch. 50, l. 157 and Canard, Hamdanides, 780 [954, mention of a “patrice de Lykandos et de Tzamandos"]) and later of a katepano. The seal of a katepano τῶν Λυκανδνῶν (Zacos, Seals II, no. 437) shows that this official was at the head of a military contingent. The theme is attested until the reign of Romanos IV Diogenes (Attaleiates, 105). It had a normal administration including protonotarioi (two seals in Sig., 282, 283, another one in Pancenko, Katalog, no. 471 and Sandrovskaja, Sfragistika, no. 818). See Hild-Restle, Kappadokien, 224-226; Oikonomides, Listes, 350; G. Dédéyan, Mleh le Grand, Revue des Etudes Arméniennes 15 (1981) 73-102; Mikra Asia them., 307-313, 475-478 (T. Lounghis).