Michael strategos of the Strymon (eleventh century)
Obverse
Inscription of three lines. Border of dots.
ΣΦΡΑ
ΓΙΣΜ.
ΧΑΗΛ
Σφραγὶς Μιχαὴλ
Reverse
Inscription of three lines. Border of dots.
ΣΤΡΑ
..ΓT
.ΤΡΙΜ
ΝΟΣ
στρατηγοῦ τοῦ Στριμῶνος
Obverse
Inscription of three lines. Border of dots.
ΣΦΡΑ
ΓΙΣΜ.
ΧΑΗΛ
Σφραγὶς Μιχαὴλ
Reverse
Inscription of three lines. Border of dots.
ΣΤΡΑ
..ΓT
.ΤΡΙΜ
ΝΟΣ
στρατηγοῦ τοῦ Στριμῶνος
| Accession number | BZS.1955.1.3749 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 19.0 mm; field: 12.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 1, no. 37.4. Cf. Wassiliou-Seibt, Siegel mit metrischen Legenden II, no. 2619, with a different reading (the family name Skribon instead of the placename in the DO edition). |
Translation
Σφραγὶς Μιχαὴλ στρατηγοῦ τοῦ Στριμῶνος.
Seal of Michael strategos of the Strymon.
Bibliography
- Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
- Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
- De Thematibus (Open in Zotero)
- Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Vol. 2, Siegellegenden von Ny bis inklusive Sphragis (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
The inscription is a correct twelve-syllable verse.
The earliest textual mention of a strategos of the Strymon (also spelled Στρομών, Στρωμών) occurs in the Treatise of Philotheos (899; see Listes, 101, line 25). But we note that DO Seals 1, 37.2-3 definitely date before the mid-ninth century, about the time when the theme of Thessalonica was established (836 or earlier, 824: DO Seals 1, § 18). The theme of Strymon may originate in the late 840s, for, as noted by Lemerle and others, there is no mention of this theme in the Uspenskij Taktikon (842-843; see the discussion in Pertusi, De Thematibus, 166-67). On the upper hand, Serres, which would have served along with Christoupolis as the capital of the theme, was elevated from a bishopric to an archbishopric in the first half of the ninth century, a circumstance that may not be coincidental. In the eighth century, the Strymon was a kleisoura of Macedonia (De Them., chap. 3, line 2), but there was also an archon of the Strymon (DO Seals 1, no. 37.1).