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Andrew imperial kommerkiarios of Thessalonica (eighth/ninth century, perhaps 795/6, 810/1, or 825/6)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type VIII). Wreath border.

Κύριε βοήθει

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Wreath border.

.ΑΝΔ
ΡΕΒ/ΚΟ
ΜΕΡΚ/ΘΕ
ΣΑΛΟΝΗ
Κ/Δ/

Ἀνδρέου βασιλικοῦ κομερκιαρίου Θεσαλονήκης. Ἰνδικτιὼν δˊ

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type VIII). Wreath border.

Κύριε βοήθει

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Wreath border.

.ΑΝΔ
ΡΕΒ/ΚΟ
ΜΕΡΚ/ΘΕ
ΣΑΛΟΝΗ
Κ/Δ/

Ἀνδρέου βασιλικοῦ κομερκιαρίου Θεσαλονήκης. Ἰνδικτιὼν δˊ

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1780
Diameter 29.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 18.34.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 1406.

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

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει. Ἀνδρέου βασιλικοῦ κομερκιαρίου Θεσαλονήκης. Ἰνδικτιὼν δˊ.

Lord, give Thy aid. (Seal of) Andrew imperial kommerkiarios of Thessalonica. Indiction 4.

Commentary

The owner of this seal could possibly have been the same as that in DO Seals 1, no. 18.35. If so, the present seal was used for special correspondence, in which the indiction had to be provided, while the other seal was used for regular correspondence. Cf. Oikonomides, Kommerkiarioi, 36 note 14 and 50 note 98.

This specimen belongs to the "transitional" type of dated seals, which have no imperial portraits but retain the indiction dating; the three known specimens were studied by Zacos-Veglery I, 138. They proposed 810/11 or 825/26 for this seal on the grounds that it must be later than the last seal of a kommerkiarios of Thessalonica with imperial portraits (i.e., Zacos-Veglery, no. 277, dated between 787 and 797). One can add that on the present specimen we find the title βασιλικὸς κομμερκιάριος, which also appears in the early ninth century (Oikonomides, Kommerkiarioi, 48).

Yet the date of the present seal is problematic. The epigraphy (esp. the betas with two round loops and the omicron, which is smaller than the other letters) contradict a date after the first quarter of the ninth century. In fact, the epigraphy would generally indicate rather an eighth-century date (cf. Dated Seals, nos. 30, 34, 38-40, 42, 44). We therefore include the date 795/6 as a possibility.

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)
  • Silk Trade and Production in Byzantium from the Sixth to the Ninth Century: The Seals of Kommerkiarioi (Open in Zotero)
  • A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Bleisiegel in Berlin (West) (Open in Zotero)
  • Le kommerkion d’Abydos, Thessalonique et le commerce bulgare du 9e siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Recherches sur les douanes à Byzance: L’octava, le "kommerkion" et les commerciares (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de Saint Démétrius et la pénétration des Slaves dans les Balkans (Open in Zotero)
  • L’éparque de Thessalonique: les origines d'une institution administrative (VIIIe-IXe siècles) (Open in Zotero)