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Constantine notarios and horreiarios of St. Eusebios (?) (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

St. Stephen the Younger, bearded, holding the martyr's cross. Inscription in two columns: |Σ|ΤΕ|ΦΝ||ΝΕ|ΟΣ: ὁ ἅ(γιος) Στέφ(α)ν(ος) ὡ Νέος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

+ΚΕ,Θ,
.ΝΣΤΑ
.ΝΟΤ,
ΑΓΕ
.

Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) [Κ]ωνστα[ντ(ίνῳ)] νοτ(αρίῳ) (καὶ) ὡρ(ειαρίῳ) [τ(οῦ)] ἁγ(ίου) Ἐψε[β]ίου

Obverse

St. Stephen the Younger, bearded, holding the martyr's cross. Inscription in two columns: |Σ|ΤΕ|ΦΝ||ΝΕ|ΟΣ: ὁ ἅ(γιος) Στέφ(α)ν(ος) ὡ Νέος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

+ΚΕ,Θ,
.ΝΣΤΑ
.ΝΟΤ,
ΑΓΕ
.

Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) [Κ]ωνστα[ντ(ίνῳ)] νοτ(αρίῳ) (καὶ) ὡρ(ειαρίῳ) [τ(οῦ)] ἁγ(ίου) Ἐψε[β]ίου

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1390
Diameter 21.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 79.1. Cf. Laurent, Orghidan, no. 11.

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

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει Κωνσταντίνῳ νοταρίῳ καὶ ὡρειαρίῳ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἐψεβίου.

Lord, help Constantine, notarios and horreiarios of St. Eusebios.

Commentary

The present specimen confirms Laurent's identification of the saint with the martyr of the first Iconoclasm, St. Stephen the Younger (d. 764).

The placename is problematic. On line 5 on the reverse of the Orghidan specimen, Laurent read ΚΙ and proposed τῶν ἁγίων ἐψεμάτων Κίου, but this is absolutely unique and does not make any sense, the word ἔψεμα meaning in fact "boiled food" (Laurent translates as "provisions de bouche"). It is hard to see how an horreiarios, in charge of storing agricultural produce, would have to deal with cooked food. We take it that the first letter of line 5 is a beta and not a kappa; this letter is not visible on our specimen, but such a reading is not impossible on the Orghidan specimen. We read τοῦ Ἁγ(ίου) Ἐψεβίου (for Εὐσεβίου) as a form that is possible but not attested elsewhere as far as we know. The simplest answer may be that what appears to be ψ is in fact a damaged or mistakenly engraved υ. The existence of another horreiarios of St. Eusebios (BZS.1955.1.2034) adds credibility to our hypothesis.

In the tenth century we know of a monastery of the Virgin in ta Eusebiou situated at the point where the river Sangarios entered into the theme of the Optimatoi, on the road leading to Constantinople: Janin, Grands centres, 93. Our seals show that the locality was of considerable importance for the concentration of agricultural produce. Note that both horreiarioi of St. Eusebios have a second administrative appointment (notarios and judge), but none bear an honorific title. One may wonder whether the name Eusebiotes was related to this locality (REB 20 [1962] 70).

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
  • Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan (Open in Zotero)
  • La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, vol. 2, Les églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins (Open in Zotero)