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Andrew imperial spatharokandidatos and tourmarches of Paltos (tenth/eleventh centuries)

 
 

Obverse

Cross potent. Traces of circular inscription along the circumference:

ΚΕΟ........Δ..

Κ(ύρι)ε βο[ήθει τῷ σ]ῷ δού[λῳ]

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΑΝΡ
Ε⸊ΣΠΑ
ΘΑ⸊ΚΑΝΙ
.ϗΤΡΜ
.ΠΑΛΤ

Άνδρέᾳ β(ασιλικῷ) σπαθα(ρο)κανδι[δ(άτῳ)] (καὶ) τουρμ[ά(ρχῃ)] Παλτ(οῦ)

Obverse

Cross potent. Traces of circular inscription along the circumference:

ΚΕΟ........Δ..

Κ(ύρι)ε βο[ήθει τῷ σ]ῷ δού[λῳ]

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

ΑΝΡ
Ε⸊ΣΠΑ
ΘΑ⸊ΚΑΝΙ
.ϗΤΡΜ
.ΠΑΛΤ

Άνδρέᾳ β(ασιλικῷ) σπαθα(ρο)κανδι[δ(άτῳ)] (καὶ) τουρμ[ά(ρχῃ)] Παλτ(οῦ)

Accession number BZS 1958.106.2443
Diameter 21.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 14.1

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Άνδρέᾳ βασιλικῷ σπαθαροκανδιδάτῳ καὶ τουρμάρχῃ Παλτοῦ.

Lord, help your servant Andrew, imperial spatharokandidatos and tourmarches of Paltos.

Commentary

The cross potent on a seal of this period is an archaic feature, reminiscent of the aniconic seals of the ninth century.

The seal of another tourmarches of Paltos, Eustathios (also imperial spatharokandidatos), likewise dating from the tenth/eleventh centuries, is published with an illustration in Sig., 318, no. 3. In Sig., the seal-owner was originally identified as "Eustratios," which is assumed to be a typo, as the illustration clearly reads "EVCTAΘ'". DO Seals 5 carried over the reading "Eustratios," which is corrected here.

The tourmarches of Paltos would have been under the authority of the strategos based at Zebel/Gabal: see Todt, “Region,” 418.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 5: The East (continued), Constantinople and Environs, Unknown Locations, Addenda, Uncertain Readings (Open in Zotero)
  • Sigillographie de l’Empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Region und griechisch-orthodoxes Patriarchat von Antiocheia in mittelbyzantinischer Zeit und im Zeitalter der Kreuzzüge (969–1204) (Open in Zotero)