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Theophilos imperial spatharios and protonotarios of the theme of Hellas (tenth century)

 
 

Obverse

A griffin rampant holding a branch in his beak. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΘΕΟΦ.
Λ  ΣΠΑΘ 
Α ΝΟΤ Τ
ΘΕΜ Ε
ΛΑΔ

Θεόφιλος βασιλικὸς σπαθάριος καὶ πρωτονοτάριος τοῦ θέματος Ἑλλάδος

Obverse

A griffin rampant holding a branch in his beak. Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΘΕΟΦ.
Λ  ΣΠΑΘ 
Α ΝΟΤ Τ
ΘΕΜ Ε
ΛΑΔ

Θεόφιλος βασιλικὸς σπαθάριος καὶ πρωτονοτάριος τοῦ θέματος Ἑλλάδος

Accession number BZS.1958.106.1333
Diameter 18.0 mm; field: 15.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 2, no. 8.38.

Translation

Θεόφιλος βασιλικὸς σπαθάριος καὶ πρωτονοτάριος τοῦ θέματος Ἑλλάδος.

Theophilos, imperial spatharios and protonotarios of the theme of Hellas.

Commentary

The same legend appears on a seal published by Mordtmann (RA 1877/1, 293, no. 4 [cf. Sig., 166 footnote, 169-70]), but the obverse carries a cross on steps and an invocation. The motif of the griffin with the raised paw and the branch in the beak  also appears on other seals (e.g. DOSeals 1.18.36; Zacos, Seals II, no. 931). It is a very old motif, attested also in other media in the mid-Byzantine period (cf. Laskarina Bouras, The Griffin through the Ages [Athens, 1983], esp. 50-51).

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)
  • 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. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • The Griffin through the Ages (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (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)