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John apo eparchon and general kommerkiarios of the apotheke of Aigaion Pelagos (713/14)

 
 

Obverse

Emperor Anastasios II wearing a crown and chlamys, holding a globus cruciger and an akakia. On either side the indiction sign: ΙΒ. Along the circumference a circular inscription. Linear border.

ΙΑΝΝΟΥΑΠΟΕΠΑΡΧ

νδικτιών ιβ´
Ἰωάννου ἀπὸ ἐπάρχων

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Linear border.

SΓΕΝΙ
ΚΟΥΚΟΜΜ
ΕΡΚΙΑΡΙΟΥ
ΑΠΟΘΗΚΗΣ
ΤΟΥΑΙΓΕΟΥ
.ΕΛΑΓΟΥ

καὶ γενικοῦ κομμερκιαρίου ἀποθήκης τοῦ Αἰγέου Πελάγου

Obverse

Emperor Anastasios II wearing a crown and chlamys, holding a globus cruciger and an akakia. On either side the indiction sign: ΙΒ. Along the circumference a circular inscription. Linear border.

ΙΑΝΝΟΥΑΠΟΕΠΑΡΧ

νδικτιών ιβ´
Ἰωάννου ἀπὸ ἐπάρχων

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Linear border.

SΓΕΝΙ
ΚΟΥΚΟΜΜ
ΕΡΚΙΑΡΙΟΥ
ΑΠΟΘΗΚΗΣ
ΤΟΥΑΙΓΕΟΥ
.ΕΛΑΓΟΥ

καὶ γενικοῦ κομμερκιαρίου ἀποθήκης τοῦ Αἰγέου Πελάγου

Accession number BZS.1958.106.659
Diameter 31.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 40.23.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 213.

Translation

Ἰωάννου ἀπὸ ἐπάρχων καὶ γενικοῦ κομμερκιαρίου ἀποθήκης τοῦ Αἰγέου Πελάγου.

(Seal of) John apo eparchon and general kommerkiarios of the apotheke of Aigaion Pelagos.

Commentary

Zacos-Veglery correctly identified the emperor as Anastasios II (713-15). The figure matches in all details (style of hair and dress, symbols of power) the representation of this emperor on gold coins (Grierson, Catalogue II/2, pl. XLVI). The form πελάγου instead of πελάγους should be maintained: it echoes common usage and is well attested, cf. DO Seals 2, nos. 40.28, 40.32 (BZS 1955.1.1431 and 1955.1.1596).

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 Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, Vol. 2, Phocas to Theodosius III (602–717) (Open in Zotero)
  • Silk Trade and Production in Byzantium from the Sixth to the Ninth Century: The Seals of Kommerkiarioi (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The Transformation of a Culture (Open in Zotero)
  • Methodii Patriarchae Constantinopolitani Vita S. Theophanis Confessoris: e codice mosquensi no. 159 (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)