Constantine horreiarios of the (imperial?) estate of Pegai (eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of St. Nicholas; book vislble in his right hand. Inscription in two columns: |Ν|ΙΚ||Λ: Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Νικώ(λαος). No visible border.
Reverse
Inscription of five lines, the final letter between horizontal bars. Indeterminate border.
ΤΝΤ,
..ΕΙΡ,Τ.
ΚΤΗΜΤ
ΤΝΠ.
Γ
[Κωνσ]ταντ(ίνῳ) [ὡρ]ειαρ(ίῳ) τοῦ [β(ασιλικοῦ)] κτήματ(ος) τῶν Π[η]γ(ῶν)
Obverse
Bust of St. Nicholas; book vislble in his right hand. Inscription in two columns: |Ν|ΙΚ||Λ: Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Νικώ(λαος). No visible border.
Reverse
Inscription of five lines, the final letter between horizontal bars. Indeterminate border.
ΤΝΤ,
..ΕΙΡ,Τ.
ΚΤΗΜΤ
ΤΝΠ.
Γ
[Κωνσ]ταντ(ίνῳ) [ὡρ]ειαρ(ίῳ) τοῦ [β(ασιλικοῦ)] κτήματ(ος) τῶν Π[η]γ(ῶν)
| Accession number | BZS.1958.106.2159 |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 21.0 mm |
| Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 65.1. |
Translation
Κωνσταντίνῳ ὡρειαρίῳ τοῦ βασιλικοῦκτήματος τῶν Πηγῶν.
Constantine horreiarios of the imperial estate of Pegai.
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)
Commentary
Sloppy engraving on the reverse. The restitution of the name Constantine is fairly secure, given the letters preserved; supplying βασιλικοῦ is much more tentative and is based on on the fact that only one letter, enough for the necessary abbreviation, is missing here.
Today known as Karabiga, Pegai lay at the entrance to the Sea of Marmara. We know that the trading port gained in importance from the twelfth century onward, but our seal shows that already in the eleventh it was a center for exporting agricultural produce from the hinterland. In the thirteenth century, the importance of Pegai increased, especially after Greeks from Monembasia settled there; the city became a metropolis (without suffragans) by assimilating the nearby archbishopric of Parion (DO Seals 3, no. 64). See ODB III, 1615-1616; H. Kalligas, Byzantine Monemvasia (Monemvasia, 1990), passim.