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Katakalon Gabras imperial protospatharios and strategos of Cephalonia (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

+ΚΕ
.ΟΗΘΕΙΤ,
.ΔΟΥΛ,
.ΑΤΑΚΑ
ΛΟ

Κύριε βοήθει τ σῷ δούλ Κατακαλο

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. No visible border.

.ΑΣ.Λ.
ΣΠΑΘΣ
ΤΡΑΤ,ΦΑ
ΛΙΝ,ΟΓ.

βασιλικῷ (πρωτο)σπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Κεφαλινίας ὁ Γαβρᾶς

Obverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

+ΚΕ
.ΟΗΘΕΙΤ,
.ΔΟΥΛ,
.ΑΤΑΚΑ
ΛΟ

Κύριε βοήθει τ σῷ δούλ Κατακαλο

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. No visible border.

.ΑΣ.Λ.
ΣΠΑΘΣ
ΤΡΑΤ,ΦΑ
ΛΙΝ,ΟΓ.

βασιλικῷ (πρωτο)σπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Κεφαλινίας ὁ Γαβρᾶς

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.3150
Diameter 25.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 1.14.

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

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Κατακαλο βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Κεφαλινίας ὁ Γαβρᾶς.

Lord, help your servant Katakalon Gabras, imperial protospatharios and strategos of Cephalonia.

Commentary

The reading of the family name is not secure; other sound possibilities include Γλαβς or Γρίβας. We know that the Gabras family is attested in the second half of the tenth century (A. Bryer, "A Byzantine Family: The Gabrades, c. 979-c. 1653," University of Birmingham Historical Journal 12 [1970] 164-187 and additions in ByzSl 36 [1975] 38-45, now in A. Bryer, The Empire of Trebizond and the Pontos [London, 1980], IIIa and IIIb).

Bibliography