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Paul imperial protospatharios epi tou koitonos and basilikos of the Armenian themes (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

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

.....
τωσω
.λ,παυλω
σπαθ,επι
θεο
.κ...

[Κύριε βοήθει] τῷ σῷ [δού]λ(ῳ)

Reverse

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

....
ικωτω
.ρμενικ
.εματ
-.ν-

Παύλῳ [β(ασιλικῷ) (πρωτο)]σπαθ(αρίῳ) ἐπὶ [τ]οῦ θεο[φ]υ[λ(άκτου)] κ[οιτῶνος καὶ βασιλ]ικῷ τῶ[ν Ἀ]ρμενικ(ῶν) [θ]εμάτ[ω]ν

Obverse

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

.....
τωσω
.λ,παυλω
σπαθ,επι
θεο
.κ...

[Κύριε βοήθει] τῷ σῷ [δού]λ(ῳ)

Reverse

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

....
ικωτω
.ρμενικ
.εματ
-.ν-

Παύλῳ [β(ασιλικῷ) (πρωτο)]σπαθ(αρίῳ) ἐπὶ [τ]οῦ θεο[φ]υ[λ(άκτου)] κ[οιτῶνος καὶ βασιλ]ικῷ τῶ[ν Ἀ]ρμενικ(ῶν) [θ]εμάτ[ω]ν

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.821
Diameter 25.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 4, no. 56.3. See also W. Seibt, "Ἀρμενικὰ θέματα", 134, no. 2.

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Παύλῳ βασιλικῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοφυλάκτου κοιτῶνος καὶ βασιλικῷ τῶν Ἀρμενικῶν θεμάτων.

Lord, help your servant Paul, imperial protospatharios, epi tou koitonos, and basilikos of the Armenian themes.

Commentary

The reverse is spaced differently from the obverse, and thus it contained only five lines; for this reason we have not followed Seibt and restored the word κριτής.

First attested in the middle of the tenth century, the “Armenian themes” drew their name from the Armenian groups which settled along the eastern frontier of the empire. They covered small territories, made up essentially of one fortress and its region, they provided mainly footsoldiers (less than a thousand each) and had  a distinct administrative structure characterized by the large number of “tourmarchai” (the Charpezikion had 22 major toumarchai and 47 lesser ones). The Armenian themes (tentative list in Kühn, Armee, 61-64), scattered along the eastern frontier, were thus differentiated from the larger, traditional “Roman themes” lying to the interior. See Oikonomides, Listes, 345-46; Oikonomides, “Organisation;” and the recent and exhaustive study of W. Seibt, “Ἀρμενικὰ θέματα als terminus technicus der byzantinischen Verwaltungsgeschichte des 11. Jahrhunderts,” ByzSl 54 (1993) 134-41. Each Armenian theme had its own (low-grade) strategos (called zirwar by the Arabs, zoravar by the Armenians); in the XIth c. do we meet a strategos of the Armenian themes in general (Zacos, Seals II, no. 844), indicating an effort to centralize the command of these scattered units. The numerous seals of the financial officials in our collection reflect the economic importance of the Armenian themes while those of the judicial officials bear witness to the effort necessary to maintain law and order in these frontier zones, especially in an Armenian population, notorious for its lack of discipline (E. McGeer, The Land Legislation of the Macedonian Emperors [Toronto, 2000] 86-89).

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
  • Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • L’organisation de la frontière orientale de Byzance aux Xe-XIe siècles et Le Taktikon de l’Escorial (Open in Zotero)
  • Ἀρμενικὰ Θέματα als terminus technicus der byzantinischen Verwaltungsgeschichte des 11. Jahrhunderts (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • The Land Legislation of the Macedonian Emperors (Open in Zotero)