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Leo "Toxeas," imperial spatharios and protonotarios of Nikopolis (ninth/tenth century)

 
 

Obverse

Patriarchal cross on three steps; at the end of the lower arms, two pellets form a vertical end; the three upper arms end with one pellet (thus it could as well be described as a cross potent with two transverse bars; the same motif is found on other 9th-century seals: e.g. DOSeals 1, no. 5.11 and 5.12). Circular inscription placed between one border of dots (inside) and a double border of dots (outside).

ΚΕΟΗΘΗΤΟΣΣΟΥΛ,

Κ(ύρι)ε βοήθη το σῷ δούλ(ῳ)

Reverse

Inscription of five lines preceded and followed by rows of pellets. Border of dots.


ΛΕΝ
,ΣΠΑΘΑΡ,
ΑΝΟΤΑΡ,ΝΙ
ΚΟΠΟΛΤ
ΟΞΕΑΣ

Λέων(τι) β(ασιλικῷ) σπαθαρ(ίῳ) (καὶ) (πρωτο)νοταρ(ίῳ) Νικοπόλ(εως) ὡ Τοξέας

Obverse

Patriarchal cross on three steps; at the end of the lower arms, two pellets form a vertical end; the three upper arms end with one pellet (thus it could as well be described as a cross potent with two transverse bars; the same motif is found on other 9th-century seals: e.g. DOSeals 1, no. 5.11 and 5.12). Circular inscription placed between one border of dots (inside) and a double border of dots (outside).

ΚΕΟΗΘΗΤΟΣΣΟΥΛ,

Κ(ύρι)ε βοήθη το σῷ δούλ(ῳ)

Reverse

Inscription of five lines preceded and followed by rows of pellets. Border of dots.


ΛΕΝ
,ΣΠΑΘΑΡ,
ΑΝΟΤΑΡ,ΝΙ
ΚΟΠΟΛΤ
ΟΞΕΑΣ

Λέων(τι) β(ασιλικῷ) σπαθαρ(ίῳ) (καὶ) (πρωτο)νοταρ(ίῳ) Νικοπόλ(εως) ὡ Τοξέας

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1188
Diameter 23.0 mm; field: 17.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 2.5. See also Seibt, Nikopolis, no. 14.

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

Translation

Κύριε βοήθη το σῷ δούλῳ Λέωντι βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ καὶ πρωτονοταρίῳ Νικοπόλεως ὡ Τοξέας.

Lord, help your servant Leo "the bowman," imperial spatharios and protonotarios of Nikopolis.

Commentary

Seibt dated this seal to the late 9th century. We would argue for a 9th/10th-century date in view of the compact epigraphic characters (cf. Dated Seals, nos. 55, 59, 60, 61). This date is also more in line with the type of the cross on the obverse.

It is quite common on seals to have the whole inscription written out in the dative and family name at the end in the nominative.

The main problem lies in explaining lines 4 and 5; our reading is based on the assumption that Toxeas, not to our knowledge attested elsewhere as a surname, comes from the ancient τοξεύς ("bowman"), and could be a surname as well as a nickname (which seems to us more likely).

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)
  • Die sphragistischen Quellen zum byzantinischen Thema Nikopolis (Open in Zotero)
  • A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)
  • De Administrando Imperio (Open in Zotero)
  • Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio (Open in Zotero)
  • Nikopolis und Kephallenia (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
  • Nikopolis I: Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Nicopolis (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (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)