Solomonakes protospatharios, grand chartoularios and basilikos of Melitene (tenth century)
Obverse
Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.
+κεRο
ηθ,τ.σ
δλ.σ
λομον
.κ
Κ(ύρι)ε βοήθ(ει) τ[ῷ] σῷ δούλ[ῳ] Σωλομον[ά]κ(ῃ)
Reverse
Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.
αˋσπαθ,
χαρτ
κεRτησ
μελιτη
νησ
(πρωτο)σπαθ(αρίῳ), μ(ε)γ(άλῳ) χαρτου(λαρίῳ) κὲ β(ασιλικῷ) τῆς Μελιτηνῆς
Obverse
Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.
+κεRο
ηθ,τ.σ
δλ.σ
λομον
.κ
Κ(ύρι)ε βοήθ(ει) τ[ῷ] σῷ δούλ[ῳ] Σωλομον[ά]κ(ῃ)
Reverse
Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.
αˋσπαθ,
χαρτ
κεRτησ
μελιτη
νησ
(πρωτο)σπαθ(αρίῳ), μ(ε)γ(άλῳ) χαρτου(λαρίῳ) κὲ β(ασιλικῷ) τῆς Μελιτηνῆς
| Accession number | BZS.1951.31.5.928 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 28.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 4, no. 68.1. |
| Credit Line | Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. |
Translation
Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Σωλομονάκῃ, πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ, μεγάλῳ χαρτουλαρίῳ κὲ βασιλικῷ τῆς Μελιτηνῆς.
Lord, help your servant Solomonakes, protospatharios, grand chartoularios, and basilikos of Melitene.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
- L’organisation de la frontière orientale de Byzance aux Xe-XIe siècles et Le Taktikon de l’Escorial (Open in Zotero)
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- Kappadokien (Kappadokia, Charsianon, Sebasteia und Lykandos) (Open in Zotero)
- Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archaeological Survey (Open in Zotero)
- Crown Lands and the Defence of Imperial Authority in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries (Open in Zotero)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
- Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan (Open in Zotero)
- Histoire de Yahya-ibn-Said d’Antioche, continuateur de Said-ibn-Bitriq (Open in Zotero)
- Histoire de la dynastie des H’amdanides de Jazîra et de Syrie (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
The first name of the owner is a diminutive, since the last letter of the obverse (κ) is very clear, and there is room enough for only one more letter before it. The office of basilikos, with financial attributions, is well attested for Melitene by seals (Laurent, Orghidan, no. 212) and in the chronicle of Yahya of Antioch (II, 372, 420), cf. Canard, Hamdanides, 844, 847-848..
Now Eski Malatya, on the right bank of the Euphrates, Melitene was conquered by John Kourkouas in 934, whereupon its Muslim inhabitants were forced to choose between converting to Christianity or leaving the town. The properties of the many who left were transformed into an imperial kouratoreia, while the city remained an important administrative and military center. This explains the many seals belonging to imperial financial officials as well as to military commanders. See Oikonomides, “Organisation,” 290 and note 31; Listes, 356; Kappadokien, 233-37; Sinclair III, 3 ff.
Melitene became a bishopric in the third century and is attested as the metropolis of Armenia I from the Vth century onwards; during the Xth century its suffragans increased from five to nine. The last metropolitan of Melitene is listed in the XIVth century. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 314; list of prelates in Fedalto, HEO I, 39-40.