Barsakios imperial protospatharios and strategos of Hellas (ninth/tenth century)
Obverse
Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ|ΔΛ. Border of dots.
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Obverse
Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ|ΔΛ. Border of dots.
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ
Reverse
Inscription of five lines, a row of three pellets above and pellets flanking the last line. Border of dots.
ΡΣ
ΚΙΣΠΘ
ΡΙΚ/ΣΤΡ
ΤΕΛΛ
ΔΟΣ
Βαρσακίῳ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Ἑλλάδος
Accession number | BZS.1958.106.5602 |
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Diameter | 24.0 mm; field: 20.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 2, no. 8.41. |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Βαρσακίῳ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Ἑλλάδος.
Mother of God, help your servant Barsakios, imperial protospatharios and strategos of Hellas.
Bibliography
- 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)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- 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)
- Le Peloponnese byzantin jusqu’en 1204 (Open in Zotero)
- Du stratège de thème au duc: chronologie de l’évolution au cours du XIe siècle (Open in Zotero)
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- Hellas und Thessalia (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
- Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Line 3 (rev.): the letter Κ has its lower oblique bar twisted at the end, obviously to indicate the abbreviation, which is indicated a second time by the proper mark. This peculiar sign appears on other seals of around the year 900 (cf. DO Seals 2, no. 8.52). We know of a ninth-century Barsakios who was protospatharios and strategos Cephalonia (no DO Seals 2, 1.8) and, perhaps later, patrikios and strategos of Sicily (DOSeals 1.5.9); however, the seals of these officials display the patriarchal cross, not the cruciform monogram of the present specimen. The ninth-century seal of a Barsakios imperial protospatharios and strategos of the Peloponnesos was published by Zacos-Veglery (no. 2569A). Cf. DO Seals 2, no. 22.22.