Nikephoros protokourator of Mesonakta (eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of St. Nicholas blessing and holding a book. Remnants of an inscription: |..|.|ΟΛ|ΑΟ|Σ: Ὁ ἅ(γιος) [Νικ]όλαος. Border of dots.
Obverse
Bust of St. Nicholas blessing and holding a book. Remnants of an inscription: |..|.|ΟΛ|ΑΟ|Σ: Ὁ ἅ(γιος) [Νικ]όλαος. Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of five lines preceded and followed by an ornament. Border of dots.
ΝΗΚΗ
ΦΟΡ,Κ
ΡΤΟΡ
ΜΣΟΝ
ΚΤΟΝ
Νηκηφόρ(ῳ) (πρωτο)κουράτορ[ι τ(ῶν)] Μεσονάκτον
Accession number | BZS.1958.106.3359 |
---|---|
Diameter | 24.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 58.2. |
Translation
Νηκηφόρ(ῳ) (πρωτο)κουράτορ[ι τ(ῶν)] Μεσονάκτον.
Nikephoros, protokourator of Mesonakton.
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)
- Phrygien und Pisidien (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Mesonakta was also called Dipotamon and known to be an imperial domain (χωρίον βασιλικόν: Skylitzes, 320), hence the administrators are called protokourator and episkeptites: it was situated in the neighborhood of Dorylaion, Kotyaion, and Philomelion in Phrygia, on the military road to the East and on the shore of an otherwise unknown lake of the Forty Martyrs. The historians give the spelling Μεσάνακτα, which sounds more Greek. It would seep that Mesonakta had a special relationship with St. Nicholas, who is depicted on both our seals. See Phrygien und Pisidien, 338-339.