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Romanos Skleros, proedros and doux of Antioch (1054–1055)

 
 

Obverse

St. George standing, holding a spear in his right hand and the sheath of his sword in his left. Vertical inscription on either side: Ο|Α|Γ|Ι|Ο|ΣΓ|Ε : Ὁ ἅγιος Γε[ώργιος]. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines preceded by an ornament. Border of dots.


ΡΑΝ,
ΠΡΟΕΡ,
ΑΝ
ΤΙΟΧΗΑΣ
ΟΣΚΛΗ
Ρ,

Ῥωμαν(ὸς) πρόεδρ(ος) (καὶ) δοὺξ Ἀντιοχήας ὁ Σκληρ(ός)

Obverse

St. George standing, holding a spear in his right hand and the sheath of his sword in his left. Vertical inscription on either side: Ο|Α|Γ|Ι|Ο|ΣΓ|Ε : Ὁ ἅγιος Γε[ώργιος]. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines preceded by an ornament. Border of dots.


ΡΑΝ,
ΠΡΟΕΡ,
ΑΝ
ΤΙΟΧΗΑΣ
ΟΣΚΛΗ
Ρ,

Ῥωμαν(ὸς) πρόεδρ(ος) (καὶ) δοὺξ Ἀντιοχήας ὁ Σκληρ(ός)

Accession number BZS 1958.106.5699
Diameter 38.0 mm; field: 30.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 9.6; Seibt, Skleroi, 80.

Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore.

Translation

Ῥωμανὸς πρόεδρος καὶ δοὺξ Ἀντιοχήας ὁ Σκληρός.

Romanos Skleros, proedros and doux of Antioch.

Commentary

This seal and BZS.1951.31.5.49 show that while doux of Antioch Skleros rose from magistros to proedros; a letter of Michael Keroularios dated to June/July 1054, which addresses him as proedros and doux of Antioch, indicates that this promotion took place shortly before this time. Other seals, showing a change of patron saint from St. George to St. Michael, proclaim Skleros proedros, doux of Antioch, and stratopedarches of the East (REG 13 [1900]: 471–73; Likhachev, Molivdovuly, 104, pl. LXIII, 9; Seyrig, no. 159; SBS 5 [1998]: 147), but it remains uncertain whether he attained this latter office before being dismissed by the empress Theodora (between August 1055 and September 1056; cf. Laurent, Vatican, 91–92), or, as is more likely, upon his restoration as doux of Antioch early in 1057 by Isaac Komnenos, out of gratitude for Skleros’s support of his successful rebellion against Michael VI (cf. Seibt, Skleroi, 79–82; Todt, “Region,” 298–300). Skleros’s star continued to rise under this emperor, as shown by a seal (Spink I, no. 86) that records his subsequent promotion to kouropalates.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 5: The East (continued), Constantinople and Environs, Unknown Locations, Addenda, Uncertain Readings (Open in Zotero)
  • Die Skleroi: Eine prosopographisch-sigillographische Studie (Open in Zotero)
  • Molivdovuly grečeskogo Vostoka (Open in Zotero)
  • Les sceaux byzantins du Médaillier Vatican (Open in Zotero)
  • Region und griechisch-orthodoxes Patriarchat von Antiocheia in mittelbyzantinischer Zeit und im Zeitalter der Kreuzzüge (969–1204) (Open in Zotero)