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Michael judge of the Optimatoi (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

St. Michael standing to front holding scepter with trefoil ornament and a globus cruciger. Inscription in two columns: Α M: Ἀ(ρ)χ(άγγελος) Μ(ι)χ(αήλ). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

+
ΤΝΟΠΤΙ
ΜΑΤΝΜΙ
ΧΑΗΛΚΡΙ
ΤΗΝΣΚΕ
ΠΟΙΣ

Τῶν Ὀπτιμάτων Μιχαὴλ κριτὴν σκέποις

Obverse

St. Michael standing to front holding scepter with trefoil ornament and a globus cruciger. Inscription in two columns: Α M: Ἀ(ρ)χ(άγγελος) Μ(ι)χ(αήλ). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Border of dots.

+
ΤΝΟΠΤΙ
ΜΑΤΝΜΙ
ΧΑΗΛΚΡΙ
ΤΗΝΣΚΕ
ΠΟΙΣ

Τῶν Ὀπτιμάτων Μιχαὴλ κριτὴν σκέποις

Accession number BZS.1955.1.3794
Diameter 21.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 71.25a.

Translation

Τῶν Ὀπτιμάτων Μιχαὴλ κριτὴν σκέποις.

May you watch over Michael, judge of the Optimatoi.

Commentary

The inscription is in dodecasyllabic verse.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
  • Documents de sigillographie byzantine: La collection C. Orghidan (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional, and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900 (Open in Zotero)
  • Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (Open in Zotero)