The collection of lead seals in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts (University of Birmingham) includes 165 specimens, of which 152 were acquired by the late Professor Anthony Bryer, the majority during his research trips in the region of Trebizond in modern Turkey in the 1970s, and subsequently donated to the museum. Thirteen additional seals were acquired later, mostly through auctions.Footnote 1 The Byzantine lead seals number in total 146 pieces, the remaining being Western and Islamic seals. In 1983, Archibald Dunn prepared a short (unpublished) handlist of these 152 specimens, without full reading or photographic documentation. The handlist was not intended as a definitive publication but as a guide for further research. I conducted a study of the collection in 2018 and present the findings here. The second part of this contribution consists of a catalogue of certain pieces from the collection selected, either for their relevance to the overall discussion or for corrections to their readings.
Seals were used primarily as additional authenticators for documents and other acts (private or official) of the issuer. They were mostly used by the elite, although at times, especially in the eleventh century, their use spread to members of the upper middle class as well.Footnote 2 The Byzantine lead seals of the Barber collection date between the sixth and the thirteenth century, although most are from the middle Byzantine period (seventh to twelfth centuries). Of the 146 Byzantine lead seals 111 originated from Pontos. Lead seals with known provenance – even when we do not know their exact findspot in a building or a place – are a good indicator for many aspects of the culture, the society, and the politics of the region where they were found. Through examination of the Barber collection, this paper will examine how the knowledge of the place of provenance of seals can help us extrapolate interesting conclusions on the social composition of the issuers and on the political and economic significance of the region in question. It will be demonstrated that the majority of the issuers were of local extraction, but in what concerned the state administration, officials who served in other nearby and far-away provinces also had political, economic or social interests in the area which are reflected in their sealing activity.
As the old provincial system disappeared in the course of the eighth century, the thematic system was established and the area was initially allocated to the strategos of the Armeniakoi. By the early ninth century, however, the eastern Pontos was established as a separate thema, that of Chaldia, which extended from Batum to the ancient Polemonion-Byzantine Phadisane (modern Fatsa). The region around Sinope remained within the boundaries of the thema of the Armeniakoi which stretched inland as far as Sebasteia and Gangra. Chaldia was a second tier thema; its strategos ranked twelfth among the thematic strategoi and its army comprised 4000 men. Despite being a borderland thema, Chaldia was not located on the main route of the Arab invasions, who preferred to enter Asia Minor through Cappadocia. In the middle of the tenth century, when the Byzantine army and strategy were re-organized, Chaldia became the seat of a doux who controlled the northeastern frontier. Around this time, the strategoi, began losing their preeminence in the provincial administration, as civil officials, among them primarily the kritai (judges), rose in power.Footnote 3
Trebizond was located on the so-called ‘silk road’ and was thus an important station for the eastern trade of Byzantium. It belonged into some wider commercial networks through the Black Sea (Crimea, Northern Caucasus, Paphlagonia, Constantinople) but also to the east in Iberia, in Armenia, and through the latter to the Islamic Near East. Trebizond is mentioned in Islamic sources as the major commercial transit station of eastern merchants to the Byzantine empire. The duty collected was so large that the strategos of Chaldia took half of his wage (20 pounds of gold) from the collection of this tax.Footnote 4 Chaldia fell for three years to the Seljuks, only to be liberated by Theodoros Gabras in 1075, who subsequently ruled as autonomous leader, as also did other members of his family in the twelfth century, although the region was fully controlled by the Byzantine empire. In 1204 the grandsons of Andronikos I (1183–5), Alexios and David, the so-called ‘Grand Komnenoi’, founded their empire in the region.Footnote 5
Communication networks of officials in Pontos
Unfortunately, we know the exact find-spot of only a small fraction of the more than 80,000 Byzantine lead seals preserved today. It has, however, been established that most seals (at least 80%) discovered in a certain region originated with people located there.Footnote 6 Let us now see whether and how this works for the case of the Barber collection.
About half of the Byzantine lead seals of the Barber collection were issued by officials, that is people who mentioned on their seals their title or office in the state and ecclesiastical hierarchy. There are nine pieces issued by officials of the provincial administration, who also mentioned on their seals the area they exercised their duties.
Three were issued by civil thematic officials of Chaldia (one krites in the second quarter of the tenth century, one protonotarios and general kommerkiarios in the first half of the ninth century, and one anagrapheus in the mid-eleventh c.: see our nos. 1–3). They reflect the preponderance of the financial and civil aspects of the administration on local affairs. An unusually large number of kommerkiarioi are attested in Chaldia (33), in contrast to most themata where few kommerkiarioi are indicated.Footnote 7 This is obviously connected to the importance of international trade of Chaldia. In fact, in Chaldia more kommerkiarioi appear than strategoi or kritai, the two offices that usually produced proportionally the most seals related to thematic administration, since these were the actual governors of a thema. However, most of the lead seals of these kommerkiarioi of Chaldia have been discovered not in Chaldia but in Constantinople or other Black Sea regions.Footnote 8 Only one more lead seal of a kommerkiarios dating from the period of Herakleios (c. 630–642: SL-46) has been found in Chaldia. Although the region of competence of the kommerkiarios is not mentioned it is logical to assume that it is related to Pontos. I believe that the absence of more seals of kommerkiarioi of Chaldia in the Barber collection should be associated with the function of Trebizond as a transit station for international trade. The kommerkiarioi would inspect and seal products intended as imports or exports, would issue receipts of payment of the kommerkion and deal with related financial issues or requests.Footnote 9 However, the bulk of imported (especially luxury) products were not destined for the local market, but would eventually reach Constantinople with their accompanying documents and receipts (and thus with the seals of kommerkiarioi).
Another two of the nine lead seals come from officials of the relatively close – though not neighbouring – themata of Charsianon in central Asia Minor around Kaisareia (our no. 4) and Taron, south of Chaldia and west of Lake Van. The first one was an anagrapheus, a tax and property assessor, and the latter the ruler of the autonomous Armenian principality of Taron who received the title strategos of his own principality as a dependent governor by the emperor.Footnote 10
Importantly, however, the remaining four seals come from regions far from Chaldia: one belonged to a protonotarios from Sicily, on the other edge of the empire; one to a strategos of the maritime thema of the Kibyrraiotai in southern Asia Minor.Footnote 11 Two come from the Aegean: one belonged to a kourator on the island of Mitylene (our no. 5) and one to a strategos of the Islands (SL-36). We do not know the provenance of the seal of the kourator of Mitylene, but the seal of the strategos of the Islands comes from Nikaia in Bithynia, still quite far from the thema of the Islands that encompassed the islands of the southern Aegean.Footnote 12 What they all have in common is their origin in maritime regions, confirming that even in the most difficult times (such as the first half of the ninth century, when Arabs conquered Crete and then Sicily), maritime routes remained an important means of communication.
Three of these four seals date to the second half of the eleventh century, a period of high geographical and social mobility for provincial officials. For example, Nikephoros Botaneiates, before his accession to the throne (r. 1078–81), served in eight different themata with the office of doux across twenty years, as analysed by Olga Karagiorgou.Footnote 13 Therefore, apart from institutional cooperation between two authorities, it is not unlikely that some of these officials were in contact with relatives or friends who happened to be officials in these themata. This seems more obvious in the case of the anagrapheus of Charsianon, who as a tax assessor of a non-neighbouring thema is unlikely to have communicated with an official in Chaldia for purely administrative matters.
There are a handful of seals in the collection from provincial officials who chose not to mention their jurisdiction area, such as Kourkouas, katepano (SL-38),Footnote 14 Ioannes Raphael, protospatharios and strategos (SL-43), and the famous Theodoros Gabras, sebastos and doux (SL-6). Theodoros Gabras is known to have been appointed doux of Trebizond (that is, of Chaldia), once he became an in-law of the emperor Alexios I. He had defended this region in the 1070s and 1080s against Turkish incursions and subsequently ruled, only nominally recognizing imperial authority, until he was killed by the Turks in 1098.Footnote 15 Therefore, even if Theodoros does not mention the region on his seal, he used it while he was a doux of Trebizond. Ioannes Raphael is known to have been katepano of Italy in 1046–1047.Footnote 16 It is not unlikely that he served before or after that date in other regions of the empire as strategos (that is, in or around Chaldia), whence our seal may originate. If, however, the career of Ioannes Raphael was confined to Italy, this seal, found in the region of Trebizond, would demonstrate the contacts provincial officials had between the two edges of the empire. Seals of the katepano Kourkouas have been found in Bulgaria, in Cyprus, and in the Crimea. The Kourkouas family was of Armenian stock and originated from the thema of the Armeniakoi, just west and south of Chaldia. The find of this seal in the area of Trebizond signifies either the bonds between the members of the family serving in different provinces, or the economic and social links with northeast Asia Minor that the family still maintained.
It is conceivable that some of the civil officials were not located in the provinces but remained in Constantinople, especially in cases when they were simultaneously holding a post in the central administration. The anagrapheus of Charsianon, in our case, was also serving as an imperial notarios of the herds. These officials could have remained in the capital, sending their employees to fulfill their tasks, while they would in turn seal the most important documents.Footnote 17 This may have worked smoothly in some services, such as tax collection or assessment; however, it could not operate for military or judicial offices, and especially in provinces not located more than a few days journey to Constantinople. Even when they held concurrently an office in the central administration, they would either commute from time to time between Constantinople and the provinces or take a break for their Constantinopolitan tasks. Besides, the correspondence of Byzantine authors, such as Michael Psellos, reveals that some provincial officials were indeed moving, at least temporarily, to the provinces and that there was no commutation for their period of term.Footnote 18 Therefore, the provincial officials of the seals of the Barber collection had probably relocated to the particular province where they had been appointed.
The links between widespread regions are confirmed by the relative lack of seals from the Constantinopolitan heartland. There are no imperial seals in the collection and few seals of officials from the central administration in Constantinople: a krites of both the hippodrome and of the belon and mystographos (our no. 7), a chartoularios of the Orphanotropheion (our no. 8), and a symponos (SL-60).Footnote 19 All these are middle-ranking officials; there is only one seal of a high-ranking official included in the collection, that of sakellarios Leontios, and it is from Carthage (SL-26).
Of the ecclesiastical seals of the collection two were issued by metropolitans of Trebizond, Konstantinos (ca. 1027–28)Footnote 20 and Niketas (late twelfth century).Footnote 21 At the same time, however, there is the seal of a metropolitan of Sardeis (our no. 9), the seal of an abbot of the monastery of Kedron, possibly in Bithynia (our no. 10), the seal of a kouboukleisios and oikonomos of the Great Church (SL-53, which was found in Amaseia, inland Pontos), and a seal issued by the bishopric of Konstantia in Cyprus (SL-52). The seal of one more archbishop of Cyprus, Epiphanios (ca. 870), is included in the collection, but was found in Constantinople.Footnote 22
The analysis of the collection thus demonstrates that, although many seals found in a region were issued by officials of that same region, there is a relatively high number of seals from other regions of the empire. Whether these seals testify to a correspondence of a private or of an official nature cannot be ascertained, but they date mainly to the eleventh century, a time of high social and geographical mobility in the empire, as we have noted.
The local provenance of sealers
Seals without any indication of a place name or an office are predominantly local. Only the most prominent members of the local elite were able to acquire the higher dignities. The only such example in the Barber collection is the sebastos Theodoros Gabras, an imperial in-law. Instead, the dignities held by our Pontic sample of sealers – whether or not they held office – were almost exclusively lower and middle ranking. Other than the explicitly provincial officials mentioned above (who likely were not locals), most sealers between the seventh and the tenth centuries held the dignities of spatharios and spatharokandidatos. Only one with the high dignity patrikios is recorded and he was not local: Theophobos, a general during the reign of Theophilos (829–842), of Persian or Kurdish stock, whose seal may relate to a failed expedition he undertook against the nearby Abasgia (modern Abkhazia).Footnote 23 In the eleventh century, the most frequent dignities that appear on the seals of the Barber collection are spatharokandidatos and protospatharios. Both dignities were no longer prestigious: they had declined rapidly in status, and after the middle of the eleventh century were only ascribed to lesser officials of the central and provincial administration.Footnote 24 In the twelfth century, the mention of dignities on seals declined, as the fashion of literary metrical seals and the praise of family origin grew. Now usually only the higher dignities, those associated with the Komnenian clan (derived from the epithet sebastos), were recorded on seals and these people almost exclusively resided at Constantinople. No twelfth-century dignities are recorded on our Pontic sample of seals.
In contrast, the largest collection of Byzantine lead seals, at Dumbarton Oaks –formed primarily of Constantinopolitan and not provincial finds – includes a broadly equal number of seals mentioning the higher dignities of magistros and patrikios and those identified with the middle-ranking dignities of spatharios and spatharokandidatos.Footnote 25 The higher dignities were largely confined to Constantinople apart from a few higher officials who were sent to the provinces, mainly the strategoi and the kritai. Besides, officials of all ranks in the provinces would communicate with Constantinople, the government and the palatine services, which brings the balance to the Dumbarton Oaks sample of seals. A simple dignitary, with no office, would in normal conditions remain in one place and would not have to move because of his office. His correspondence would be primarily of a private nature with few contacts away from his place of residence. Most of the simple dignitaries whose seals are now in the Barber collection were then, probably locals and held no higher dignities.Footnote 26
That most of the Barber seals were owned by locals is also supported by the relatively few seals with a patronymic, only one of which names a renowned Constantinopolitan family: a Promoundenos of the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, hailing probably from an originally Constantinopolitan family that produced quite a few civil officials in the middle and late eleventh century.Footnote 27 Thereafter, however, the family did not retain its position. There are only two Promoundenoi known in the twelfth century, Theophanios (without any office or dignity) and Theodoros, probably a simple notary in the central ministries,Footnote 28 plus two Promoundenoi in Makedonia in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, one of whom was a servant to the despot Ioannes Palaiologos.Footnote 29 Trebizond was the centre of an entirely different state (the Grand Komnenoi). Rather than positing a connection with the contemporary Promoundenoi in distant Makedonia, we would thus favour a local origin, a view supported by the fact that a few Constantinopolitan families migrated after the fall of Constantinople in 1204 to other Greek states, including to the Pontic empire of the Grand Komnenoi.Footnote 30 In short, the seals of people who do not mention any office or dignity seem to come primarily from the Pontos.
Iconography and local particularities
The importance of faunal iconography on the seals of the Barber collection is noteworthy. About 20% of the Byzantine seals that come from the area of Trebizond are decorated with depictions of animals, and these all date between the late ninth and the eleventh century. One can find lions, peacocks, eagles, birds, ducks, and the mythical griffin. Faunal iconography was not uncommon on seals of the tenth century, but it seems to have persisted longer on the Pontic seals. In contrast, on the ninth- to eleventh-century seals in the collection of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, faunal iconography barely reaches 1%. This is true of other collections as well, such as in the private collection of Y. Tatıs, formed primarily of seals coming from Western Asia Minor, and the collection at Dumbarton Oaks.Footnote 31
Whether these kinds of motifs on Byzantine seals adapt contemporary eastern (not necessarily Islamic) motifs reflecting a cosmopolitan court, or revive classical motifs and thus reflect the cultural learned spirit of the period, is uncertain.Footnote 32 An analysis of their attestation reveals that these motifs proliferated more among certain groups of officials, primarily the epi ton barbaron (heads of foreign mercenary units) and some kommerkiarioi not only restricted to the East,Footnote 33 that the same kind of officials used sometimes clearly classical (and not eastern) motifs on their seals,Footnote 34 and that faunal iconography was not uncommon among Roman and early Byzantine seals until the seventh century, that is before the rise of Islamic art.Footnote 35 This iconography is found seldom in seals of higher officials, although classical motifs were certainly familiar to the educated elite of Constantinople in the tenth century.
Of the published seals of thematic officials of Chaldia, the seals of just three officials (out of a total of ninety-eight) display an animal motif: two kommerkiarioi and one domestikos, a lesser military official.Footnote 36 We cannot know the place of origin of the kommerkiarioi, but lesser military officials mostly originated from the region in which they served. This small number is nonetheless important, for in other themata of the central and western Asia Minor with even larger corpora of officials (such as Opsikion and the Anatolikoi) there is barely an official with faunal iconography on his seal.Footnote 37 Faunal iconography is met with on seals of provincial officials from Chaldia and Seleukeia to Sicily, the Peloponnese and Nikopolis. It is difficult to establish a geographical pattern, although officials of the southern Balkan provinces exhibited seemingly more faunal iconography in proportion to officials of the Asia Minor provinces.Footnote 38 If the motifs were indeed related to contacts with the Islamic East, why they cannot be found in themata neighbouring the southeastern frontier: Kappadokia, Charsianon, Lykandos and the Anatolikoi, or even Mesopotamia?Footnote 39 It is worth remarking that the Barber collection includes no seal of a provincial official (who might have been sent to Chaldia from Constantinople) or other higher dignitary/official who used such motifs on his seal. The faunal motifs exclusively decorate seals of medium-ranking and lesser dignitaries or the so-called ‘private people’, that is people who probably originated from Pontos (for example, our nos. 11, 12, 14).
It would be, however, a mistake to consider that the ‘private persons’ (i.e., those not mentioning any office or title on their seals) who displayed such motifs on their seals, were necessarily merchants, considering that they used on their seals motifs found on products (such as clothes) they were selling.Footnote 40 Some of these ‘private persons’ were in fact officials who did not bother mentioning all or any of their offices and titles on their seals.Footnote 41 Secondly, the few merchants and other artisans who issued seals did mention their occupation (e.g. σηρικοπράτης, πραγματευτής) on their seals. With just two exceptions, I know of no other Byzantine merchants who used such motifs on their seals.Footnote 42
The appearance of such motifs may be indeed associated to the trade routes and the contacts with foreigners, and thus they decorate proportionately seals of officials such as the epi ton barbaron and the kommerkiarioi. Their persistence on Pontic seals, however, much more than any other region of the empire, seems to reflect more a local fashion, which in turn may show an opposition to the more traditional values and fashion of the capital.
Otherwise, there is little local iconography. Although Eugenios was a local saint, his portrait is encountered on just one late thirteenth-century seal (SL-85). Even someone named Eugenios in the eleventh century preferred to portray St Niketas on his seal (SL-72).Footnote 43 Curiously, no middle Byzantine metropolitan of Trebizond ever bore on his seals a depiction of St Eugenios, the supposed patron of the city.Footnote 44 As Jan Olof Rosenqvist has argued, the cult of St Eugenios, although firmly established and connected with Trebizond since the sixth century, was limited until the advent of the Grand Komnenoi. All this changed once these rulers turned the cult of St Eugenios from a popular to an imperial one from the middle of the thirteenth century and later, making him the patron-saint of their capital and their empire.Footnote 45 The Barber seals pre-date this expansion.
To conclude, the Barber seals are associated primarily with people from the eastern Pontos. At the same time, they reveal that, owing to the sea routes, eastern Pontos had contacts with other provinces of the empire, even as far as Sicily, and that these contacts were not strictly institutional, but also social. In turn, the Byzantine state had minimal interest for this region, other than its governance and taxation, particularly the levy of the trade tax through the kommerkiarioi. This lack of interest was manifested on the low integration of the local elite to the imperial system, as very few of the locals had access to the most prestigious offices and dignities. The side-effect of this practice was the growth of local particularities in culture, which, once the central control thinned in the late eleventh century, evolved into separatism, represented by the autonomous rule of Theodoros Gabras.
Catalogue
Provincial officialsFootnote 46
1. Nikephoros, protonotarios of Chaldia and genikos kommerkiarios (Fig. 1)
SL-32. Dunn, Handlist, no. 32 [ninth century].
Provenance. Trabzon.
Dating. Early ninth century.
Obv. Cruciform invocative monogram of Κύριε βοήθει (Laurent type VIII) with inscription in the quarters:
Rev. Inscription in four lines:
(Κύριε βοήθει) [τ]ῷ [σ]ῷ δούλῳ //
+ Νικηφ(όρῳ) (πρωτο)νοτ(αρίῳ) Χαλδ(ίας) (καὶ) γεν(ικῷ) κωμερ(κιαρίῳ)
This seal dates to the first half of the ninth century and probably from the 820s or 830s since the epigraphy recalls that of the imperial kommerkia of Makedonia and Thrake of 820/821 or of Makedonia of 831/832.Footnote 47 This makes Nikephoros one of the earliest protonotarioi of Chaldia. The thematic protonotarioi were financial officials who supervised the collection of taxes and the provision of the army.Footnote 48
Fig. 1.Nikephoros, protonotarios of Chaldia and genikos kommerkiarios.
2. Konstantinos, imperial protospatharios and krites of Chaldia (Fig. 2)
SL-30. A. Bryer, ‘A molybdobull of the imperial protospatharios Constantine, Krites of the Thema of Chaldia’, Αρχείον Πόντου 27 (1966) 244–6; Dunn, Handlist, no. 30 [tenth century].
Provenance: Trabzon.
Dating. Second quarter of the tenth century.
Obv. Cruciform invocative monogram of Κύριε βοήθει (Laurent type X) with inscription in the quarters; three borders of dots, the middle of which with larger and less dense dots:
Rev. Inscription in four lines; three (?) borders of dots, the middle of which with larger and less dense dots:
(Κύριε βοήθει) τῷ σῷ δούλῳ //
+ Κωνσταντ(ίνῳ) β(ασιλικῷ) (πρωτο)σ[π]αθ(αρίῳ) (καὶ) κρι[τ(ῇ)] Χαλδίας
Twenty-two kritai of Chaldia have been identified.Footnote 49 The majority were active in the eleventh century and only three (including our own) date to the tenth century. The kritai appeared in the late ninth century and soon assumed the civil governance of a thema, superseding the strategoi by the mid-tenth century.Footnote 50 Most of the tenth-century strategoi of Chaldia bore the same title as Konstantinos, which reflects the growing importance of the kritai.
This type of an invocative monogram and the multiple dotted border appear on other seals after the beginning of the tenth century. Exactly the same invocative monogram decorates the obverse of the seal of Samonas, spatharokandidatos, asekretis and krites of Thessalonike (November 922) and an identical border appears on the seal of Zoetos, imperial protospatharios and epi ton oikeiakon (943).Footnote 51 The epigraphy of the inscription too suggests a dating the same period; characteristic is the form of the diphthong ου
, where a full circle is topped by two diagonal lines not united at their bottom end.
Fig. 2.Konstantinos, imperial protospatharios and krites of Chaldia.
3. Kosmas, imperial (?) spatharokandidatos, imperial notarios of the sakelle and anagrapheus of Chaldia (Fig. 3)
SL-31. Dunn, Handlist, no. 31; read as Dositheos, spatharokandidatos, imperial notarios of the herds and anagrapheus of Chaldia [tenth century].
Provenance. Trabzon.
Dating. Mid-eleventh century.
Obv. St Nicholas (bust) holding a book (?) (l. hand) and blessing (r. hand):
- ; circular inscription: KER…
Rev. Inscription in five lines:
Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Νι[κ]όλ[α]ο[ς]. + Κ(ύρι)ε βο[ήθει τῷ σῷ δούλῳ] //
[+] Κοσμᾷ [β(ασιλικῷ)] σπαθ(αρο)καν[δ(ιδάτῳ)] β(ασιλικῷ) νοτ(αρίῳ) τ(ῆς) σ[α]κέλ(λης) (καὶ) ἀναγ[ρ(αφεῖ)] Χαλδ(ίας)
The name of the official was read by Dunn as Dositheos (i.e.
); however, detailed examination reveals the triangular remains of the last letter, pointing to an A, rather than a round letter such as a Θ, while the H read by Dunn is actually a M, thus forming the name Kosmas. Before the dignity spatharokandidatos there is enough space (either at the end of the first line or in the beginning of the second) for an R that would give the epithet ‘imperial’ (βασιλικῷ) to the title, with which it is often associated. Furthermore, the first letter of the first line is a K (not a Γ), which makes Kosmas an imperial notarios of the sakelle () and not of the herds, i.e. agelai (). The imperial notarioi were the immediate subalterns of the epi tou sakelliou, responsible for the state treasury; the logothetes of the agelai did not have notarioi on his staff. Another possible reading could be imperial notarios of the sakellarios; the sakellarios maintained notarioi in most departments of the finance sector in the central administration.Footnote 52The seal epigraphically comes from the first half of the eleventh century. Other anagrapheis of Chaldia are known from this period; however, the jurisdiction of these officials was usually combined with neighbouring themata, Derzene and Taron.Footnote 53
Fig. 3.Kosmas, imperial (?) spatharokandidatos, imperial notarios of the sakelle and anagrapheus of Chaldia.
4. Anonymous, (proto?)spatharios and anagrapheus of Charsianon (Fig. 4)
SL-33. Dunn, Handlist, no. 33 [eleventh century].
Provenance. Trabzon
Dating. Mid-eleventh century.
Obv. Two unidentified bearded saints (bust), possibly SS Cosmas and Damian.
Rev. Inscription in five lines (four surviving):
[…] [(πρωτο)?]σπαθ(αρίῳ) [(καὶ)] ἀναγρα[φ(εῖ) τ]οῦ Χαρ[σ]ιανοῦ
On the obverse the seal bears the portraits of a pair of unidentified and almost identical bearded saints, a rather rare iconographic motif on seals. The details are not clear, but the figures seem to hold an object that is not a book, a cross (of a martyr) or the weapon of a military saint, but could represent the medical box of the two saints Anargyroi, Cosmas and Damian.Footnote 54 However, since the inscription that would identify them has not survived, this identification remains tentative.
Based on the epigraphy (the particular shapes of Γ and P) and the iconography the seal dates to the eleventh century, and probably from the middle of that century. Unfortunately, it was struck on a smaller blank disc which resulted in the loss of at least one line above containing the first name of the owner. Our anonymous official was an anagrapheus of Charsianon. His dignity was most likely protospatharios, rather than simply spatharios, a title that due to inflation was vanishing already by the turn of the eleventh century. By this period, it is attested mostly in some very low-ranking officials or in rural society.Footnote 55
Charsianon was located in the heart of Asia Minor, more or less around the ancient province Cappadocia I.Footnote 56 A number of additional anagrapheis of Charsianon from the second half of the tenth and the eleventh century are known.Footnote 57
Fig. 4.Anonymous, (proto?)spatharios and anagrapheus of Charsianon.
5. Symeon, patrikios, anthypatos, bestes, krites and kourator of Mitylene (Fig. 5)
SL-35. Dunn, Handlist, no. 35; read as Symeon, protoanthypatos, bestitor and kourator of Mitylene [twelfth century]
Provenance. unknown.
Obv. St Theophanes Graptos (standing) on the left, bearded and wearing elaborate dress and a headcover, and St Symeon of Lesbos (standing) on the right, bearded and wearing a tunic but without a headcover, both orantes and turned to the inner side towards an icon of Christ (bust) on the top; vertical identifying inscription on the back side of each saint; signs of sigla on either side of the Christ portrait; border of dots:
Rev. Inscription in seven lines; border of dots:
Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Θεοφ(ά)νης – [Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Συ]μεόν // + Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) Συμεὼν π(ατ)ρι(κίῳ) ἀνθυπ(ά)τ(ῳ) βέστῃ κριτ(ῇ) καὶ κουράτ(ορι) Μιτυλήνης
Our specimen finds a parallel in the Dumbarton Oaks collection, where the figure on the right is identified as St Symeon, archbishop of Persia, and the figure on the left as his co-martyr the eunuch St Gousthazat, based mainly on his more richly-decorated dress.Footnote 58 There are several saints with the name Symeon; three of them are stylites (Symeon Stylites, fifth century; Symeon Stylites the Younger, sixth century; Symeon of Lesbos, ninth century), in addition to Symeon archbishop of Persia (fourth century), the Theodochos (contemporary of Christ) and the Neos Theologos (eleventh century). I would argue that the figure on the right is St Symeon the Stylite an iconophile monk from the island of Lesbos (Mitylene), on account of our official's service in Mitylene.Footnote 59 Moreover, the inscription on our specimen reveals that the figure on the left is St Theophanes. There are two saints with this name, both ninth-century iconophiles: Theophanes the Confessor and Theophanes Graptos, metropolitan of Nikaia (842–845). The portrait of Theophanes the Confessor, quite different from this one, can be found on seals of abbots of the monastery tou Agrou that he founded.Footnote 60 Theophanes Graptos, while in exile on the island Aphousia in the Sea of Marmara, met St Symeon of Lesbos, also there for his iconophile tendencies. This link between our two saints leads us to identify the holy figure on the left as Theophanes Graptos rather than Theophanes the Confessor. Both saints died in 845.Footnote 61
Until the eleventh century Mitylene was part of the thema of Aigaion Pelagos, whose strategos sat in Abydos. However, the presence of at least one more krites of Mitylene, again in combination with the office of kourator, indicates that the island may have formed a separate administrative district. The kourator even assumed the defence of Mitylene against the Turks in the late eleventh century, creating the impression that he was actually the governor of the island.Footnote 62 Our official, Symeon, is not known from any other sources. The combination and accumulation of these titles, as well as the epigraphy of the seal suggest a dating around the third quarter of the eleventh century.
Fig. 5.Symeon, patrikios, anthypatos, bestes, krites and kourator of Mitylene.
6. Theoktistos, hypatos and protonotarios of Sikelia (Fig. 6)
SL-117. Dunn, Handlist, no. 117; read simply as Theoktistos [seventh/eighth century].
Provenance. Trabzon.
Dating. Early ninth century.
Obv. Cruciform invocative monogram of Θεοτόκε βοήθει (Laurent type V) with inscription in the quarters:
Rev. Inscription in four lines:
(Θεοτόκε βοήθει) τῷ σῷ δούλ(ῳ) //
[+] Θεοκτίστῳ ὑπ(άτῳ) (καὶ) (πρωτο)νοτα(ρίῳ) Σικε(λίας)
The dignity of the owner is uncertain, though the letter Π at the beginning of line three indicates that the dignity can only have been hypatos or imperial spatharios. Nevertheless, the remains of the last letter in the second line (a diagonal line is visible) point more to an υ rather than a β. The elongated, rigid, and well-positioned letters with few serifs suggest a date around the early ninth, rather than the late eighth century with its less rigid and well-positioned letters, and the mid-ninth century when letters become squarer.
In the former G. Orghidan collection there is a similar seal read by Laurent as ‘Theoktistos, bestitor and protonotarios of Sikelia’.Footnote 63 Although there are many similarities in the alignment of the letters and the inscription between the two items, in fact they come from two distinct boulloteria (compare the positioning of the letters between the first and the second line) that quite probably belonged to the same official. After personal examination of the specimen I would not, however, reconstitute the dignity of the owner as bestitor on the Orghidan specimen due to the lack of space, but rather as imperial spatharios (i.e.,
).
Fig. 6.Theoktistos, hypatos and protonotarios of Sikelia.
, where a full circle is topped by two diagonal lines not united at their bottom end.
; circular inscription: KER…
); however, detailed examination reveals the triangular remains of the last letter, pointing to an A, rather than a round letter such as a Θ, while the H read by Dunn is actually a M, thus forming the name Kosmas. Before the dignity spatharokandidatos there is enough space (either at the end of the first line or in the beginning of the second) for an R that would give the epithet ‘imperial’ (βασιλικῷ) to the title, with which it is often associated. Furthermore, the first letter of the first line is a K (not a Γ), which makes Kosmas an imperial notarios of the sakelle (
) and not of the herds, i.e. agelai (
). The imperial notarioi were the immediate subalterns of the epi tou sakelliou, responsible for the state treasury; the logothetes of the agelai did not have notarioi on his staff. Another possible reading could be imperial notarios of the sakellarios; the sakellarios maintained notarioi in most departments of the finance sector in the central administration.
).
Other officials
7. Anonymous (Laktantios?), krites of the hippodrome, of the belon and mystographos (Fig. 7 a–b)
SL-29. Dunn, Handlist, no. 29 [sixth–seventh century]; read as Konstantinos, … hippodromou (?)…
Provenance. Unknown.
Dating. Mid-eleventh century.
Obv. Inscription in five (?) lines (four surviving):
Rev. Inscription in six lines (four surviving):
SL-108. Dunn, Handlist, no. 108 [eighth–ninth century]; read simply as Konstantinos.
Provenance. Trabzon.
Dating. Mid-eleventh century.
Obv. Inscription in five (?) lines (four surviving):
Rev. Inscription in six lines (four surviving):
Combined reading of the reverse: [κριτ(ῇ) ἐπ]ὶ τ(οῦ) [Ἱππ(ο)]δρό[μ(ου) τ(οῦ)] βήλ[ου κ]ὲ μυ[στ(ο)]γρά[φ(ῳ)]
Close examination of these two specimens reveals that they were struck by the same boulloterion. In both, the seal was struck on a surface smaller than the die, which was also damaged (partially flattened), and this has caused the loss of most of the original inscription. On the reverse the combined reading can be safely reconstituted as krites of the hippodrome, of the belon and mystographos. I was unable, however, to restore the inscription on the obverse containing the first name and possibly an additional office of the owner. The surviving letters do not support Dunn's reading of the name as Konstantinos, nor do the last two lines support the reading of any known title, though the letters -κτην on the fourth line may indicate the office epeiktes (in accusative).
A different overall structure of the inscription, such as invocation – name – surname (obverse), offices (reverse), is possible.Footnote 64 If so, the ending -λφῳ in the last line of the obverse (which cannot represent any known office or title), would belong to a surname, and the letters κτα on the third line could indicate the first name of the owner, perhaps Laktantios.
A mystographos was a secretarial official possibly assigned to record the proceedings of imperial councils. The office remained closely connected to the judicial administration, and many mystographoi served also as judges (kritai of the hippodrome and/or of the belon) as here.Footnote 65
Fig. 7.Anonymous (Laktantios?), krites of the hippodrome, of the belon and mystographos.
8. Nikolaos, protospatharios and chartoularios of the Orphanotropheion (Fig. 8)
SL-28. Dunn, Handlist, no. 28; read as Nikolaos, spatharios and chartoularios of the … (?) [tenth/eleventh century].
Provenance. Istanbul.
Dating. Mid-eleventh century.
Obv. St Nicholas (bust) holding a book (l. hand); vertical inscription on the right side:
, ; border of dotsRev. Inscription in six lines; border of dots:
[Ὁ ἅγιος Νι]κόλ(αος). // + Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)θ(ει) Νικολ(άῳ) (πρωτο)σπαθ(αρίῳ) (καὶ) χαρτο[υλ(αρίῳ)] τ(οῦ) Ὀρ[φαν(ο)]τρ[οφ(είου)]
The orphanotrophos was a civil official ranked relatively highly, among the other ministers of the empire (the logothetai); he had his own sekreton associated with one of the greatest charitable institutions of the empire, the orphanage of St Paul in Constantinople. The office of orphanotrophos is attested since the fifth century; the most famous was undoubtedly the eunuch Ioannes the Orphanotrophos, a leading figure in the politics of the empire around the period that our seal was engraved; he managed to raise to the throne his brother Michael IV (1034–1041) and his nephew Michael V (1041–1042).Footnote 66 Curiously, a significant number of orphanotrophoi are associated with the Pontos region. At least three were also, and at the same time, judges in the Armeniakoi;Footnote 67 another chartoularios of the Orphanotropheion was bishop of Ionopolis on the Black Sea;Footnote 68 while Ioannes Orphanotrophos came from Paphlagonia. It is not unlikely that the Orphanotropheion possessed estates in the region with which it funded its charitable activities. Our seal may have been related to these activities in the Pontos region.
Fig. 8.Nikolaos, protospatharios and chartoularios of the Orphanotropheion.
, ; border of dots
Ecclesiastical seals
9. Niketas (metropolitan) of Sardeis (Fig. 9)
SL-123. Dunn, Handlist, no. 123: read as ‘… of Sardis’.
Provenance. Trabzon.
Dating. Mid-twelfth century, probably after 1147 and c. 1166.
Obv. Indistinct figure of a standing holy figure wearing a long heavy tunic, possibly Theotokos; border of dots.
Rev. Inscription in five lines:
; border of dots: Ἡ σφραγὶς αὕτη [ἔ]λαχεν [Ν]ικήτ(ᾳ) τον Σαρδ(έων)This seal was allotted to Niketas (metropolitan) of Sardeis
This seal was only partially read by Dunn and therefore not indexed in the Corpus of metrical seals; nor does it appear in prosopographical studies. Although the seal is worn and the surface corroded, the inscription is quite clear; we hesitate only between the reading of τοῦ or τῶν before Σαρδέων. The omission of the metropolitan office from the inscription is quite common, particularly on metrical seals of the eleventh century and later. Another metropolitan of Sardeis in this period wrote on his seal: Τὸν Σάρδεον Στέφανον, Ἁγνή, με σκέποις (Oh Pure [Virgin], protect me, [metropolitan] of Sardeis).Footnote 69
The long heavy tunic of the figure on the obverse is the usual dress of the Theotokos. This is compatible with the fact that, with one exception, all known metropolitans of Sardeis portrayed the Theotokos on the obverse of their seals.Footnote 70 A metropolitan of Sardeis named Niketas participated in the Synod of 1166 in Constantinople,Footnote 71 and may have been the owner of our seal. If so, Niketas was appointed metropolitan after 1147, when another metropolitan of Sardeis, Ioannes, participated in a synod.Footnote 72
Fig. 9.Niketas (metropolitan) of Sardeis.
10. Timotheos, abbot of Kedron (Fig. 10)
SL-55. Dunn, Handlist, no. 55 [eleventh century].
Provenance. Trabzon.
Dating. Mid-tenth century.
Obv. Cross patriarchal on four steps, flanked by fleurons rising up to lower vertical crossbar; circular inscription:
, ; border of dotsRev. Inscription in four lines; border of dots:
Κ(ύρι)ε βοήθῃ τῷ σῷ δούλ(ῳ) // + Τ[ι]μο[θέ]ῳ [ἡ]γουμένῳ [τ]οῦ Κεδρόνος
A monastery by the name τῶν Κεδρώνων, not located in Constantinople or its immediate environs, is known from three letters, all dated sometime before 870/871, of Patriarch Photios to its abbot Dorotheos.Footnote 73 Another abbot of the same monastery from the mid-ninth century, Iakobos, is known from a seal located in the Dumbarton Oaks collection.Footnote 74 The name of the monastery on that seal appears as
, which the editors (faithful in the edition of the Letters of Photios), transcribed as [τ(ῶν)] Κεδρόνο(ν). Nevertheless, we prefer to transcribe Κεδρόνος, due to the spelling of our seal, and to the reading of a letter that is likely a C instead of the abbreviation sign.Nothing else is known about this monastery; however, the editors of Photios’ letters suggested that, since Dorotheos opposed Photios, it may have been located on Mount Olympus in Bithynia, near several other monasteries that opposed the patriarch. This proposition is strengthened by John of Ephesos, who noted a toponym ‘Qerdonian’ near Pythia in Bithynia. Indeed, in the same area several centuries later existed the toponym [ἡ] Κεδρωνέα.Footnote 75 This foundation should not be, however, related to the monastery τὰ Καθαρὰ.Footnote 76
Fig. 10.Timotheos, abbot of Kedron.
; border of dots: Ἡ σφραγὶς αὕτη [ἔ]λαχεν [Ν]ικήτ(ᾳ) τον Σαρδ(έων)
, ; border of dots
, which the editors (faithful in the edition of the Letters of Photios), transcribed as [τ(ῶν)] Κεδρόνο(ν). Nevertheless, we prefer to transcribe Κεδρόνος, due to the spelling of our seal, and to the reading of a letter that is likely a C instead of the abbreviation sign.
Seals only with names
11. Esdrael of Ioannes or Esdraelioannes (Fig. 11)
SL-112. Dunn, Handlist, no. 112; read as Ioannes [tenth/eleventh century].
Provenance. Trabzon.
Dating. Early tenth century.
Obv. Lion facing left; border of dots
Rev. Inscription in four lines; border of dots:
+ Κ(ύρι)ε βοήθ(ει) Ἠσδραὴλ <τοῦ> Ἰωάννη
A seal similar to this belonged to the former G. Zacos collection. It bears the same decoration of the obverse (an advancing lion) with only minor differences (for example, the Zacos seal is framed with entwined tendrils between two borders of dots) but the owner identifies himself as ‘Esdrael, son of Ioannes’,Footnote 77 whereas on our seal the name appears united, without the article τοῦ. In Greek popular tradition sons often assumed as a single name the compound of their first name with their patronymic and this might have been such a case. Esdrael is of Hebrew origin and means ‘God is my helper’; it is not elsewhere attested as a name in Byzantium.
Fig. 11.Esdrael of Ioannes or Esdraelioannes.
12. Sisinnios Hagiopolites (Fig. 12)
SL-61. Dunn, Handlist, no. 61 [11th c.].
Provenance. Trabzon.
Dating. First half of tenth century.
Obv. Lion facing left; border of dots.
Rev. Inscription in four lines; border of dots:
[+] Κ(ύρι)ε β(οή)[θ(ει)] Σισινήο [Ἁ]γηοπολήτ(ῃ)
Note again the unusual lack of the definite article (τῷ) before the surname. The course of the border on the reverse leaves insufficient space on the left of the third line or on the right of the second line for yet another letter, that is, for an abbreviated T.
The surname Hagiopolites is attested in other sources. On ascending the throne in 886, Leo VI ordered Ioannes Hagiopolites, magistros and ex logothetes of the dromos, to evict Photios from the patriarchate and send him to a monastery. He later took part in the trial of Photios.Footnote 78 The seal of another Hagiopolites, Elias (equally without the definite article τῷ) from the 11th c. is located in the Hermitage.Footnote 79
Fig. 12.Sisinnios Hagiopolites.
13. Stephanos Baltomerites (?) (Fig. 13)
SL-62. Dunn, Handlist, no. 62; read as Stephanos Latmo.ites
Provenance. Trabzon.
Dating. First half of eleventh century.
Obv. Theotokos (bust) holding with both hands a Christ in medallion; remains of a circular invocation:
; border of dotsRev. Inscription in four lines; border of dots:
[Θ(εοτό)κε βοήθει τῷ σῷ] δούλ(ῳ) (?) // [+ Σ]τεφάνο Βαλτ(ο)μερίτι (?)
Dunn had read Latmo.ites; however, in the first letter of the third line one can see the middle line of the A, while the second letter has no middle line and thus is a Λ. The first letter of the surname is not well preserved and could either be Π or R. We would favour R (the open form of Beta) and read the first part of the word as βαλτο-, (i.e., βάλτα/βάλτος: marsh).
Fig. 13.Stephanos Baltomerites (?).
14. Strategios, … (Fig. 14)
SL-45. Dunn, Handlist, no. 45; read as Isaak, strategos [10th c.].
Provenance. Trabzon.
Dating. First half of tenth century.
Obv. Peacock in frontal position with an open tail; border of dots.
Rev. Inscription in four lines (three surviving):
+ Κ(ύρι)ε βοήθ(ει) Στρ[α]τιγή[ῳ …]
Dunn read the owner's name as Isaak and his office as strategos, however, it is clear that the first name, Strategios, follows immediately after the invocation. At the bottom of the third line there are remains of letters from the fourth line that probably contained the dignity, the office or even the surname of the owner.
Fig. 14.Strategios, …
; border of dots
Christos Malatras earned his PhD at the University of Birmingham with the thesis ‘Social structure in fourteenth century Byzantium’ (2013). Ηe was awarded postdoctoral fellowships in Greece (Academy of Athens), Turkey (Koç and Boğaziçi Universities), USA (Dumbarton Oaks), and Germany (University of Cologne and Karl Eberhard University of Tübingen) and taught Byzantine History at the Democritus University of Thrace, the University of Thessaly and the University of Ioannina. He has authored a monograph (Edinburgh, 2023) and several articles on the social, cultural, and administrative history of Byzantium and sigillography.
. The last letter on the third line may have been also an E, the last on the fourth line a 
(certainly not an α), and the second letter on the last line a Ρ. The second part of the surname may read Scholarios, a renowned Trapezuntine family in the Late Byzantine period. Possible reconstructions could be: Thrascholarios, Thraskolabios, Erastolabios, etc.).
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