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Basil Xeros, vestarches and judge of the Peloponnesos and Hellas (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

St. Mark and St. Theodore (right) standing frontally, dressed in long robes and offering a blessing. St. Mark holds a book, St. Theodore a cross. Vertical inscriptions: |Μ|ΑΡ|ΚΟ|Σ; at right.: |ΘΕ|Ο|ΔΩ|Ρ,: Ὁ ἅγιος Μᾶρκος, Ὁ ἅγιος Θεόδωρος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines preceded and followed by decoration. Border of dots.

 
ΘΚΕ,Θ,
ΑΣΙΛΕΙ
ΕΣΤΑΡΧ,
ΚΡΙΤ,ΠΕΛΟΠ
ΝΗΣΕΛΑ
Δ,ΤΞΗΡ,
 

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Βασιλείῳ βεστάρχ καὶ κριτ Πελοποννήσου καὶ Ἑλάδος τῷ Ξερ

Obverse

St. Mark and St. Theodore (right) standing frontally, dressed in long robes and offering a blessing. St. Mark holds a book, St. Theodore a cross. Vertical inscriptions: |Μ|ΑΡ|ΚΟ|Σ; at right.: |ΘΕ|Ο|ΔΩ|Ρ,: Ὁ ἅγιος Μᾶρκος, Ὁ ἅγιος Θεόδωρος. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines preceded and followed by decoration. Border of dots.

 
ΘΚΕ,Θ,
ΑΣΙΛΕΙ
ΕΣΤΑΡΧ,
ΚΡΙΤ,ΠΕΛΟΠ
ΝΗΣΕΛΑ
Δ,ΤΞΗΡ,
 

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Βασιλείῳ βεστάρχ καὶ κριτ Πελοποννήσου καὶ Ἑλάδος τῷ Ξερ

Accession number BZS.1955.1.3408
Diameter 33.0 mm; field: 28.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 8.19b.
Cf. a seal likely from the same boulloterion, Mordtmann, RA 1877/2, 50, no. 25 (=Sig., 189, note 4, no. 7).

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Βασιλείῳ βεστάρχῃ καὶ κριτῇ Πελοποννήσου καὶ Ἑλάδος τῷ Ξερῷ.

Mother of God, help Basil Xeros, vestarches and judge of the Peloponnesos and Hellas.

Commentary

The reading of this seal is based on the edition of its better preserved counterpart from the same boulloterion: BZS 1955.1.3407.

On Basil's cursus honorum, see DO Seals 2, no. 8.16 (BZS.1947.2.135).

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)
  • Plombs byzantins de la Grèce et du Péleponnèse (Open in Zotero)
  • Sigillographie de l’Empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Peloponnese byzantin jusqu’en 1204 (Open in Zotero)
  • Du stratège de thème au duc: chronologie de l’évolution au cours du XIe siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Hellas und Thessalia (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)