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John Triakontaphyllos protoproedros and praitor of Bulgaria (eleventh/twelfth century)

 
 

Obverse

Military saint standing frontally, holding spear and scabbard. Inscription at left: : ὁ ἅγιος ... . This must be St. Demetrios, who appears on the British Museum specimen. No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of seven lines; ornament below. Border of dots.

.ΑΠΡΟΕ
ΡΠΡΑΙ
ΡΙο.λ
γαριαστ.
τριακον..
φυλλ

Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) Ἰω(άννῃ) (πρωτο)προέ[δ]ρῳ (καὶ) πραί[τ]ωρι Βο[υ]λγαρίας τ[ῷ] Τριακον[τα]φύλλῳ

Obverse

Military saint standing frontally, holding spear and scabbard. Inscription at left: : ὁ ἅγιος ... . This must be St. Demetrios, who appears on the British Museum specimen. No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of seven lines; ornament below. Border of dots.

.ΑΠΡΟΕ
ΡΠΡΑΙ
ΡΙο.λ
γαριαστ.
τριακον..
φυλλ

Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) Ἰω(άννῃ) (πρωτο)προέ[δ]ρῳ (καὶ) πραί[τ]ωρι Βο[υ]λγαρίας τ[ῷ] Τριακον[τα]φύλλῳ

Accession number BZS.1958.106.5354
Diameter 25.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 29.4. Cf. a similar specimen, probably from the same boulloterion, published in Sig., 241, no. 5 (Schlumberger collection); another (?) was acquired by the British Museum before 1875 (Catalogue of the Additions in the Department of Manuscripts of the British Museum, 1854-75, 827) and was published by Birch, nos. 17780, 17782 (with ref. to Sig.). A very similar specimen, inaccurately described and read, belonged to a certain Hadji Agop in the nineteenth century: Ἑλλ. Φιλολ. Σύλλ. 17 (1886), Suppl., 145.

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει Ἰωάννῃ πρωτοπροέδρῳ καὶ πραίτωρι Βουλγαρίας τῷ Τριακονταφύλλῳ.

Lord, help John Triakontaphyllos, protoproedros and praitor of Bulgaria.

Commentary

Because of the lack of space, it is unlikely that the obverse was decorated with two military saints, as Schlumberger thought. We know of several other eleventh-century seals that belonged to John Triakontaphyllos, e.g., Sig., 710-11; Birch, no. 17933; Konstantopoulos, no. 391. See also PBW : Ioannes 20129, and the seals linked to this entry.

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)
  • Sigillographie de l’Empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years... (Open in Zotero)
  • Catalogue of Seals in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum (Open in Zotero)
  • Βυζαντιακὰ μολυβδόβουλλα τοῦ ἐν ἈΘήναις Ἐθνικοῦ Νομισματικοῦ Μουσείου (Open in Zotero)
  • Les duchés byzantins de Paristrion (Paradounavon) et de Bulgarie (Open in Zotero)
  • Bolgarija i Vizantija v XI-XII vv. (Open in Zotero)
  • L’évolution de l’organisation administrative de l’empire byzantin au XIe siècle (1025–1118) (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)