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Anastasios hypatos, imperial balnitor, and general kommerkiarios of the apotheke of Thessalonica (723/4)

 
 

Obverse

In upper field, two imperial busts: Leo III (left), bearded, and Constantine V, beardless; each holds globus cruciger and wears divitision, chlamys, and crown with a cross. On either side, the indiction signs: Ζ. In lower field, inscription of four lines. Indeterminate border.

ΝΣΤΣΙΟΥ
ΥΠΤΟΥΒΣΙ
ΛΙΚΟΥΒΛ
Ν.ΤΟΡΟΣ

νδικτιὼν ζˊ. Ἀναστασίου ὑπάτου βασιλικοῦ βαλνίτορος

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Indeterminate border.

ΓΕΝΙ
ΚΟΥΚΟΜ
ΜΕΡΚΙΡΙ
ΟΥΠΟΘΗΚ
ΗΣΘΕΣΣ
ΛΩΝΙΚΗΣ

καὶ γενικοῦ κομμερκιαρίου ἀποθήκης Θεσσαλωνίκης

Obverse

In upper field, two imperial busts: Leo III (left), bearded, and Constantine V, beardless; each holds globus cruciger and wears divitision, chlamys, and crown with a cross. On either side, the indiction signs: Ζ. In lower field, inscription of four lines. Indeterminate border.

ΝΣΤΣΙΟΥ
ΥΠΤΟΥΒΣΙ
ΛΙΚΟΥΒΛ
Ν.ΤΟΡΟΣ

νδικτιὼν ζˊ. Ἀναστασίου ὑπάτου βασιλικοῦ βαλνίτορος

Reverse

Inscription of six lines. Indeterminate border.

ΓΕΝΙ
ΚΟΥΚΟΜ
ΜΕΡΚΙΡΙ
ΟΥΠΟΘΗΚ
ΗΣΘΕΣΣ
ΛΩΝΙΚΗΣ

καὶ γενικοῦ κομμερκιαρίου ἀποθήκης Θεσσαλωνίκης

Accession number BZS.1955.1.4370
Diameter 35.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 18.32.

Translation

Ἰνδικτιὼν ζˊ. Ἀναστασίου ὑπάτου, βασιλικοῦ βαλνίτορος, καὶ γενικοῦ κομμερκιαρίου ἀποθήκης Θεσσαλωνίκης.

Indiction 7. (Seal of) Anastasios hypatos, imperial balnitor, and general kommerkiarios of the apotheke of Thessalonica.

Commentary

The owner of this seal is certainly the same as that of DO Seals 1, no. 18.33 (BZS 1947.2.164). Known from many seals, he must have been a wealthy businessman who farmed out the office of general kommerkiarios in several provinces between 718 and 727 (cf. Zacos-Veglery, 158-59). He appears as an imperial balnitor who obtained the title of hypatos sometime between 719 and 720. He received the office of general kommerkiarios for Thessalonica for two consecutive years, during the first of which he also farmed out the same office for Constantinople.

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)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Silk Trade and Production in Byzantium from the Sixth to the Ninth Century: The Seals of Kommerkiarioi (Open in Zotero)
  • Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Bleisiegel in Berlin (West) (Open in Zotero)
  • Le kommerkion d’Abydos, Thessalonique et le commerce bulgare du 9e siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Recherches sur les douanes à Byzance: L’octava, le "kommerkion" et les commerciares (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de Saint Démétrius et la pénétration des Slaves dans les Balkans (Open in Zotero)
  • L’éparque de Thessalonique: les origines d'une institution administrative (VIIIe-IXe siècles) (Open in Zotero)