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John imperial spatharios, monetarios, and protonotarios of Sicily (ninth century)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ|ΔΛ. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription in four lines. Wreath border.

ΙΝ.
ΗΒΣΠΘ
ΜΟΑ
ΝΟΤ.ΣΙΚ

Ἰωάν[ν]ῃ β(ασιλικῷ) σπαθ(αρίῳ) μονητ(αρίῳ) (καὶ) (πρωτο)νοτ(αρίῳ) Σικ(ελίας)

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type V); in the quarters: ΤΣ|ΔΛ. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ

Reverse

Inscription in four lines. Wreath border.

ΙΝ.
ΗΒΣΠΘ
ΜΟΑ
ΝΟΤ.ΣΙΚ

Ἰωάν[ν]ῃ β(ασιλικῷ) σπαθ(αρίῳ) μονητ(αρίῳ) (καὶ) (πρωτο)νοτ(αρίῳ) Σικ(ελίας)

Accession number BZS.1958.106.885
Diameter 28.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 5.6. See also Zacos-Veglery, no. 2057.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ Ἰωάννῃ βασιλικῷ σπαθαρίῳ, μονηταρίῳ, καὶ πρωτονοταρίῳ Σικελίας.

Theotokos, help your servant John imperial spatharios, monetarios, and protonotarios of Sicily.

Commentary

The Latin term "monitarius" is encountered in the Ravenna papyri in regard to a certain Laurentius monitarius who died before 572 (see Brown, Gentlemen, 279, Laurentius no. 8). The standard literature has failed to note that the first publication of a seal carrying this title appears in F. Barnabei, Notizie degli scavi (1886), 244; obverse with an inscribed cruciform monogram; reverse inscription Σεργίῳ ὑπ(άτῳ) κ(αῖ) μονηταρίῳ. See also a ninth-century seal in the Palermo Museum of a John, hypatos and monetarios (?): Laurent, Sicile, no. 2 (a different seal, however, is illustrated and the reading is contested by W. Seibt in ByzSl 36 [1975] 211). Grierson, Catalogue III/1, 73, quite correctly observed that since the official had "the still respectable title of consul" he was quite likely a mint-master, and not a mere moneyer. This interpretation is reinforced by this seal, which informs us that, on occasion at least, the control of dies and mint emissions rested with the protonotarios of Sicily, the highest civil administrator of the Theme. See also Zacos-Veglery, no. 2630: protospatharios and monetarios of Sicily.

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)
  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, Vol. 3, Leo III to Nicephorus III (717–1081) (Open in Zotero)
  • Gentlemen and Officers: Imperial Administration and Aristocratic Power in Byzantine Italy, A.D. 554-800 (Open in Zotero)
  • La Sicile byzantine: État de recherches (Open in Zotero)
  • Storia della Sicilia, Vol. 3, La Sicilia fra Roma e Bisanzio (Open in Zotero)
  • L’amministrazione del tema de Sicilia (Open in Zotero)
  • Une liste arabe des stratèges du thème de Sicile (Open in Zotero)
  • Une source peu étudiée de l’histoire de la Sicile au haut Moyen-Age: La sigillographie byzantine (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantinische Rang- und Ämterstruktur im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert: Faktoren und Tendenzen ihrer Entwicklung (Open in Zotero)
  • Theophanes Continuatus, Ioannes Cameniata, Symeon Magister, Georgius Monachus (Open in Zotero)