Kosmas horreiarios of Smyrna (eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of St. Panteleimon holding a scalpel in his right hand and a physician's box in his left hand. Vertical inscription: τ-ε|λε|ημ|ο, : [Ὁ (ἅγιος) Παν]τελεήμο(ν). Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. No visible border.
κεR,θ
κοσμαω
ριαριω
σμυρ.
Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) Κοσμᾷ ὡριαρίῳ Σμύρ[ν(ης)].
Obverse
Bust of St. Panteleimon holding a scalpel in his right hand and a physician's box in his left hand. Vertical inscription: τ-ε|λε|ημ|ο, : [Ὁ (ἅγιος) Παν]τελεήμο(ν). Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. No visible border.
κεR,θ
κοσμαω
ριαριω
σμυρ.
Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) Κοσμᾷ ὡριαρίῳ Σμύρ[ν(ης)].
| Accession number | BZS.1958.106.5169 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 20.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 35.2. |
Translation
Κύριε βοήθει Κοσμᾷ ὡριαρίῳ Σμύρνης.
Lord, help Kosmas, horreiarios of Smyrna.
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)
- De Thematibus (Open in Zotero)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- L’histoire et la géographie de la région de Smyrne entre les deux occupations turques (1081-1317), particulièrement au XIIIe siècle (Open in Zotero)
- Die Städte Kleinasiens im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
It is interesting that a person named Kosmas after one of the Anargyroi ("not in it for the money") saints, chose another anargyros, St. Panteleimon, to decorate his seal. See ODB I, 85 and III, 1572-73.
Smyrna (modern Izmir) was an important city, port, and economic center of the province of Asia, and served in the tenth century as residence of the strategos of Samos (De Them., chap. XVI, line 16). It had a hinterland with extensive agricultural production that is illustrated by our seals of horreiarioi.
At first, Smyrna was a simple bishopric of Ephesos, but then (mid-fifth century) it became an autocephalous archbishopric. Finally it is attested as a metropolis from 869 onward. This evolution is reflected in the notitiae.
See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 563; Arhweiler, Smyrne, passim; Brandes, Städte, 126-26; ODB III, 1919-20.