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The imperial kommerkia of Bithynia, [Phyrgia] Salutaria, [Phrygia] Pakatiane and Lydia (733/734)

 
 

Obverse

Busts of two emperors, Leo III (717-741) and Constantine V (720-775), holding a staff cross between them. No inscription or border visible.

Reverse

Inscription of eight lines, top line missing. Border of dots.

...
βασιλικων
κομμερκι
ωνβιθυνιασ
σαλ.αριασ
.ακα.ιανησ
λυδιασ
β

Τῶν βασιλικῶν κομμερκίων Βιθυνίας, Σαλουταρίας, Πακατιανῆς καὶ Λυδίας. Ἰνδικτιὼν β'

Obverse

Busts of two emperors, Leo III (717-741) and Constantine V (720-775), holding a staff cross between them. No inscription or border visible.

Reverse

Inscription of eight lines, top line missing. Border of dots.

...
βασιλικων
κομμερκι
ωνβιθυνιασ
σαλ.αριασ
.ακα.ιανησ
λυδιασ
β

Τῶν βασιλικῶν κομμερκίων Βιθυνίας, Σαλουταρίας, Πακατιανῆς καὶ Λυδίας. Ἰνδικτιὼν β'

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1738
Diameter 44.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 24.4.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 248(a). Zacos-Veglery published a second, very similar, specimen (same indiction, iconography, and inscriptions) produced by a different boulloterion.

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

Translation

Τῶν βασιλικῶν κομμερκίων Βιθυνίας, Σαλουταρίας, Πακατιανῆς καὶ Λυδίας. Ἰνδικτιὼν β'.

(Seal of) the imperial kommerkia of Bithynia, [Phrygia] Salutaria, [Phrygia] Pakatiane and Lydia. Indiction 2.

Commentary

The Roman province of Lydia kept its name and its administrative prerogative until the ninth century even though the theme of the Thrakesion was by then long in existence.

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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)