Theoktistos imperial protospatharios and strategos of the Peloponnesos (ninth century)
Obverse
Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ|Δ.. No border visible.
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δού[λ]ῳ
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. No visible border.
.ΘΕΟΚ
.ΙΣΤ/
.ΠΑΘˊΚ/ΣΤΡ
Α.ΠΕΛΟΠ
Θεοκ[τ]ίστῳ β(ασιλικῷ) [(πρωτο)σ]παθ(αρίῳ) κ(αὶ) στρα[τ(ηγῷ)] Πελοπ(οννήσου)
Obverse
Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ|Δ.. No border visible.
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δού[λ]ῳ
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. No visible border.
.ΘΕΟΚ
.ΙΣΤ/
.ΠΑΘˊΚ/ΣΤΡ
Α.ΠΕΛΟΠ
Θεοκ[τ]ίστῳ β(ασιλικῷ) [(πρωτο)σ]παθ(αρίῳ) κ(αὶ) στρα[τ(ηγῷ)] Πελοπ(οννήσου)
| Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.327 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 28.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 2, no. 22.38. See also Zacos-Veglery, no. 2493a (with a different reading of the owner's name). |
| Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Θεοκτίστῳ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ καὶ στρατηγῷ Πελοποννήσου.
Mother of God, help your servant Theoktistos, imperial protospatharios and strategos of the Peloponnesos.
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)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)
- De Administrando Imperio (Open in Zotero)
- Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio (Open in Zotero)
- La Morée franque: Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d’Achaïe (1205-1430) (Open in Zotero)
- Die Skleroi: Eine prosopographisch-sigillographische Studie (Open in Zotero)
- Theophanis Chronographia (Open in Zotero)
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- Realities of Byzantine Provincial Government: Hellas and Peloponnesos, 1180-1205 (Open in Zotero)
- Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
In Zacos-Veglery, the name is transcribed ΘΕΟΓ[Ν]ΩΣΤΩ, but it is quite clear that the fourth letter in line 1 has a high, slanting bar and is a kappa, similar to the one in line 3 (a form that does not appear on Dated Seals after the middle of the 9th century) and that the first letter of line 2 is an iota and by no means an omega. The owner of thsi specimen may well have been the protospatharios and strategos Theoktistos Bryennios, who was sent in 842 or thereabouts to the Peloponnesos with a large force to submit the Slavs (see De Adm. Imp., chap. 50, lines 7-12, and Commentary, 185-86; cf. also DOSeals 1, § 14.