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Leo anthypatos, patrikios, vestes and katepano of the Mardaïtai (tenth/eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Michael holding cross scepter and globus cruciger. Ρemnants of inscription: Χ|Α: Ὁ Μιχαήλ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

ΛΕΟΝ
.ΝΘΥΠ.
Π̅ΡΙΕ.
.ΚΑΤΕΠ
ΝΜΑΡ..
ΙΤ

Λέον νθύπατος, πατρίκιος, βέστης καὶ κατεπάνω Μαρδαϊτῶν

Obverse

Bust of St. Michael holding cross scepter and globus cruciger. Ρemnants of inscription: Χ|Α: Ὁ Μιχαήλ. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

ΛΕΟΝ
.ΝΘΥΠ.
Π̅ΡΙΕ.
.ΚΑΤΕΠ
ΝΜΑΡ..
ΙΤ

Λέον νθύπατος, πατρίκιος, βέστης καὶ κατεπάνω Μαρδαϊτῶν

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.2125
Diameter 25.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 70.1.

Translation

Λέον ἀνθύπατος, πατρίκιος, βέστης καὶ κατεπάνω Μαρδαϊτῶν.

Leo anthypatos, patrikios, vestes and katepano of the Mardaïtai.

Commentary

The Mardaïtai were a Christian people originating in Lebanon, transferred by the Byzantines to the region of Attaleia and later to the western coastline of Greece, who became famous as sailors (ODB II, 1297). In Attaleia, they were placed under the separate command of a katepano appointed directly by the emperor and retained some independence from the strategos of the Kibyrraiotai; such katepano were the owners of the two specimens published below, the first of which shows that this institution survived until the 10th/11th century. See De Adm. Imp., chap. 50, lines 169ff; Commentary, 192-93; Ahrweiler, Mer, 50, 108ff, 399-400; Zacos, Seals II, nos. 331, 901; Hr. Bartikian, "Ἡ λύση τοῦ αἰνίγματος τῶν Μαρδαϊτῶν," Byzantium. Tribute to Andreas N. Stratos I (Athens, 1986), 17-39; Kühn, Armee, 160-63. It is possible that the Mardaïtaiof Nikopolis were also under the command of a katepano (DO Seals 2, § 2).

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)
  • De Administrando Imperio (Open in Zotero)
  • Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzance et la mer: La marine de guerre, la politique et les institutions maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe–VXe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Η Λύση Τοῦ Αἰνίγματος Τῶν Μαρδαϊτῶν (Open in Zotero)
  • Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)