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The imperial kommerkia of Mesembria (736/7?)

 
 

Obverse

Two emperors represented half-length holding a cross set on globus between them; only the figure on the right, wearing chlamys, is visible. No epigraphy or border visible.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Wreath border.

ΑΣΙΛΙ
ΚΟΜΜ
ΚΙΩΝΜ
ΗΜΒΡΙΑ
Ε

Τῶν βασιλικῶν κομμερκίων Μεσημβρίας.   Ἰνδικτιὼν εˊ

Obverse

Two emperors represented half-length holding a cross set on globus between them; only the figure on the right, wearing chlamys, is visible. No epigraphy or border visible.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Wreath border.

ΑΣΙΛΙ
ΚΟΜΜ
ΚΙΩΝΜ
ΗΜΒΡΙΑ
Ε

Τῶν βασιλικῶν κομμερκίων Μεσημβρίας.   Ἰνδικτιὼν εˊ

Accession number BZS.1958.106.690
Diameter 31.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 77.7.
Zacos-Veglery, no. 251.
A parallel specimen has been published several times; cf. Bibicou, Douanes, 231, no. 63.

Translation

Τῶν βασιλικῶν κομμερκίων Μεσημβρίας.   Ἰνδικτιὼν εˊ.

(Seal of) the imperial kommerkia of Mesembria.   Indiction 5.

Commentary

For this seal, we follow the classification of Zacos-Veglery, the principles of which are explained ibid., I, 301-3. Leo III and Constantine V are typically shown on dated seals of 729-739 holding a cross set on a globus between them; after 741 the cross seems to be set on a rectangular base. In addition, the figure at r. seems to be beardless. Thus the seal should date to 736/7, four years before Constantine became sole emperor. The year 751/2 may be securely excluded, since in those years dated seals typically carry representations of three emperors.

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)
  • Recherches sur les douanes à Byzance: L’octava, le "kommerkion" et les commerciares (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Tribute or Trade?: The Byzantine-Bulgarian Treaty of 716 (Open in Zotero)
  • Mesembria in the Ninth Century: Epigraphical Evidence (Open in Zotero)
  • Sceaux byzantins du musée de Constantinople (Open in Zotero)
  • Ἡ συνέχεια τῆς Χρονογραφίας τοῦ Ἰωάννου Σκυλίτση (Open in Zotero)
  • La Thrace Orientale et La Mer Noire: Géographie Ecclésiastique et Prosopographie (VIIIe-XIIe Siècles) (Open in Zotero)