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The imperial kommerkia of Mesembria and Thrace (741-750)

 
 

Obverse

Half-length figures of Leo III, bearded, and Constantine V (right), seemingly bearded, holding between them a long cross on globus (?); each wears chlamys and crown with a cross (visible only on Constantine). No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of seven lines. No visible border.

τωνβ
ιλικων
ωμμερ
ιωνμεσ
..ιασσ
ησθρ
..

Τῶν βασιλικῶν κωμμερκίων Μεσημβρίας σὺν τῆς Θρᾴκης

Obverse

Half-length figures of Leo III, bearded, and Constantine V (right), seemingly bearded, holding between them a long cross on globus (?); each wears chlamys and crown with a cross (visible only on Constantine). No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of seven lines. No visible border.

τωνβ
ιλικων
ωμμερ
ιωνμεσ
..ιασσ
ησθρ
..

Τῶν βασιλικῶν κωμμερκίων Μεσημβρίας σὺν τῆς Θρᾴκης

Accession number BZS.1947.2.109
Diameter 28.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 71.17.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 259d. Two other similar specimens, in the Zacos collection, are published by Zacos-Veglery, nos. 259b-c, and two more by Lihačev, "Datirovannye," 196, no. 3, cf. Bibicou, Douanes, 231, nos. 64, 69.

Translation

Τῶν βασιλικῶν κωμμερκίων Μεσημβρίας σὺν τῆς Θρᾴκης.

(Seal) of the imperial kommerkia of Mesembria together with Thrace.

Commentary

The attribution of the present specimen to Leo III and Constantine V has been proposed by Zacos-Veglery, who dated it between 730 and 741. This date fits well with the representation of a cross on globus (cf. DO Seals 1, no. 77.7; but the globus is not visible with certainty). On the other hand, Constantine is bearded and this feature would rather point to his sole reign (after 741). Moreover, the unusual formulation of the inscription invites us to put this specimen at the same time period as BZS.1955.1.4400, between 741 and 750, possibly at the very beginning of that decade. One may assume that the last line of the rev. would have contained the indiction number.

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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Datirovannye vizantijskie pečati (Open in Zotero)
  • Recherches sur les douanes à Byzance: L’octava, le "kommerkion" et les commerciares (Open in Zotero)
  • De Thematibus (Open in Zotero)
  • “Thrakien” und “Thrakesion” (Open in Zotero)
  • Die zweihundertjährige Reform (Zu den Anfängen der Themenorganisation im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert) (Open in Zotero)
  • Ανίχνευση τοπογραφική της ανατολικής Θράκης (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • La Thrace Orientale et La Mer Noire: Géographie Ecclésiastique et Prosopographie (VIIIe-XIIe Siècles) (Open in Zotero)
  • Constantini Porphyrogeniti De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae (Open in Zotero)