10 10th international Symposium of Byzantine Sigillography

N. Alekseienko, La carte sigillographique de la Crime: les nouvelles places des trouvailles des sceaux de la byzantins en Crime. Les trouvailles des sceaux byzantins sur la territoire de Taurique sont connues il y a longtemps et leurs origine est lie avec Cherson. En ce moment l ce lieu nest pas seul o se trouvent les molybdoboulles. Ainsi dans lhistoriographie de Byzance quelques trouvailles des sceaux sont connues Partenite o videmment il y avait la rsidence dvque. Au dernier moment Sougdeyas de Byzance eat devenue le grand fournisseur de sceaux. La suite de recherches archologiques aux monuments de Taurique de Byzance mais aussi lobservation active damateur de mtal dtecteur des territoires vastes adhrantes aux centres principaux administratifs et commercials conomiques de la Crime mdivale permettent aujourdhui dlargir considrablement la carte gographique des trouvailles des molybdoboulles de cette rgion. Parmi des nouveaux lieux il faut premierement marquer le plateau de la montagne Mangup o sinstallait la capitale de la principaut Phodoro. On connait les sceaux comme du premier temps (mollybdoboulle du logothte Mtrophane du VII-me sicle), aussi des priodes plus tard (dinpigraphe de sceau du XI-XIIme sicles). Pas except quici Cherson ou Sougdeyas on peut apparatre grand complexe des bulles de plomb de Byzance avec le temps. lappui de a il y a des trouvailles des sceaux mme aux bourgs, sinstalls au pied (pathre du police de Cherson de la deuxime moit du VI-me sicle). La trouvalle du premier molybdoboulle de Byzance dhypatos Thophylacte (VIII-IXme sicles) sur la fortification Suyrene bien sr fait venir lintrt. Les trouvailles rares des sceaux on peut marquer pas tellement en Crime de Sud-Ouest. Ainsi en rgion de la montagne Ajou-Dag pas lontemps tait dcovert un sceau videment dun des archontes de Cherson de la premire moiti de IX-me sicle et de Kertch (Bosporo) ou ses ndroits (les fouilles avant les annes 1941) rsulte deuxime exemplaire du milibdoboulles tourmarque de Gothie (X-me scicle), trouv la composition des archives des sceaux de Cherson. Sauf a des contacts rels Bosporo avec lappareil des fonctionnaires dmpire encore en premire priode de Byzance tmoignement les trouvailles des molybdoboulles du VII-VIIIme scicles la pente de la montagne Mitridat. Au dernier temps la topographie des trouvailles largi considerablement dans les endroits de mme Cherson. Et en outre ici ont devenu connus les sceaux rsultants des bourgs confins la cit ansienne aussi des lieux trop loigns. Par exemple de chora de Cherson (la rgion de Fiolent, le ravin de Bermann) tirent son origine quelques sceaux des archontes de Cherson de la premire moiti du IX-me scicle. Par loutre lieu on peut nommer la rgion de Balaklava. On rapelle quici aux annes 60 du XX-me scicle tait trouv la boulle de pape Alexandre IV dont la datation est le printemps de lanne 1261. De cette rgion les sceaux de

Byzance ntait pas connus avant. La nouvelle trouvailles nous prsente le sceau du VII-VIIIme scicle ce que est interessant parce que Balaclava ancienne de Byzance na pas t appirise pratiquement archologiquement. Voil lapparition de nouvelles trouvailles des sceaux de Byzance avec localisation vraie leur origine donne pas tellement la nouvelle information de mme monument de la sigillographie mais aussi prcise la gographie de lassistance de Byzance en Taurique en manifestant surtout des lieux peu consacrs pas autres types de sources. V. Bulgakova, Archaeological Views on the Usage of Seals in Byzantium Since at the turn of the 19th century the Byzantine Sigillography has been formed as a branch of science it exists an unshakeable conviction: seals were used in Byzantium for sealing of plenty of acts or in other words primarily for correspondence. New archaeological discoveries cast doubt on this apparent axiom though. Recent underwater excavations in the port of Byzantine Sugdaia in the Crimea have brought to light a large number of Byzantine seals found together with artifacts typical for a port like coins, weights, trade articles, nautical equipment and the like. The finding situation define these seal finds as an immanent part of the archaeological harbour complex. According to the find context seals can be clearly assigned to commercial and maritime activities in the port basin of Sugdaia. The discovered seals must be used in taxation and transportation, namely in most cases for sealing of goods. This detection let appear already known Byzantine as well as Roman or Old Russian underwater seal finds from another port complexes (e.g. Constantinopel, Chersones, Lugdunum, Novgorod, Drogiin and many others) in a new light. If until now such seal finds were interpreted as a rule like remains of archives, thus an archaeological view gives rise to understand they as goods seals and associate with economic activities.

J.-Cl. Cheynet B. Caseau, Les Xroi, tude sociale et iconographique Nul ne concevrait plus dcrire une monographie familiale sans lapport des sceaux. Toute une srie dtudes rcentes confirme limportance de cette source. Jusqu maintenant ce sont les grandes familles militaires qui ont retenu lattention, car les sources narratives donnent beaucoup dinformations sur elles. Pourtant les familles civiles ont laiss aussi de nombreux sceaux. Les Xroi sont lune delle. Nous connaissons environ 25 dentre eux qui furent tous actifs du XIe sicle au dbut du XIIIe s. Ils ne sont pas inconnus car W. Seibt et N. Oikonomids ont dj donn de larges commentaires sur certains sceaux quils publiaient, notamment sur les Xroi prnomms Basile. Ltude des charges exerces montrera le got des Xroi pour les lucratives charges financires et comment plusieurs membres de la mme famille russirent exercer la mme charge. Elle rvlera aussi que si les Xroi se sont illustrs principalement dans les charges civiles et plus modestement ecclsiastiques, certains dentre eux reurent des fonctions militaires dans cette famille tradition civile, montrant une nouvelle fois que la frontire ntait pas tanche entre les stratiotikon et politikon. Liconographie des sceaux a fait de rcents progrs et le choix des signataires trouve plus souvent des explications. Lutilisation des images de saints sur les plombs a fait lobjet des tudes de J. Cotsonis notamment. Il reste que les travaux sur le choix des membres de toute une famille reste rares, car cest un terrain min. Un essai a t fait pour les Comnnes. Les Xroi se caractrisent par le choix de saint Marc par plusieurs dentre eux. Or saint Marc est peu souvent reprsent sur les plombs. Il faudra tenter de comprendre ce que cela signifie pour lhistoire de cette famille sans sortir du cadre des hypothses. Saint Marc apparat parfois en compagnie dun

autre saint, autre singularit. Les Xroi avaient une dvotion particulire pour saint Marc. Est-ce dire que si saint Marc est prsent sur un sceau sans nom de famille, il faut attribuer le plomb aux Xroi ? Sinon le culte de la Vierge est le plus dvelopp ensuite, marque de la rsidence constantinopolitaine des Xroi. No one would consider writing the history of a Byzantine family without the seals, nowadays. A number of recent publications include the study of seals and confirm their importance as a source for social history. Up until now, only major families have attracted scholars' attention, as they are known though narrative sources, which provide information on their members. Numerous seals, however, belong to families in civil service, among them the Xeroi. We know about 25 families, who were working for civil administrations from the XIth century until the beginning of the XIIIth century. Some of the seals of the Xeroi were published and commented upon by W. Seibt and N. Oikonomides. They attracted scholar's attention to a certain Basilios Xeros, but a study of the whole family has not yet been offered. The seals reveal that the family served the Byzantine State in different civil services and had an inclination for lucrative fiscal charges, which were sometimes passed from one Xros to another. The Xroi were also active in the Church or the army. This family was mostly working in the civil service, but once more, we should not consider the frontier between the stratiotikon and the politikon as a tightly closed one. Civil service did not exclude ecclesiastical or military charges. The study of seals iconography had made recent progress, thanks in particular to John Cotsonis. We can try to account for the choices made by the owner of the seals. A study was devoted to the iconographic choices of the Comnenian family, yet such studies on one particular family remain rare, because it is a difficult task. We can only offer hypotheses. We shall nevertheless try to attempt such a study for the Xeroi, because many of them chose saint Mark, who is a relatively rare saint on seals. Saint Mark appears sometimes alone, sometimes in company with another saint. It seems obvious that the family had a devotion to that particular saint. Can we deduce a geographic origin from that fact? Is it a marker of that particular family and can we go so far as to attribute a seal with saint Mark to a member of the family? Saint Mark, however, is not the only saint chosen by members of this family. The second frequent saint is the Virgin, which may indicate that the family lived in Constantinople. We shall briefly explore what can be said concerning the iconography of the seals belonging to the Xroi.

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 . A. Gkoutzioukostas, Some Remarks on Mystographos and Mystolektes. This paper examines the offices of mystographos and mystolektes, who are mentioned on seals of the 11th century but whose duties remain unknown. According to certain scholars, who base their assumption mainly on the evidence of seals, the mystographos and the mystolektes were judicial officers. However, the testimony of other primary sources indicates that the duties of a mystographos were first and foremost secretarial. In addition, the evidence of seals does not prove that mystolektes was a judicial officer. Perhaps he was an imperial messenger of some sort. M. Grnbart, Sichern, Bewahren und Vervielfltigen: Die Sammlung byzantinischer Alltagsgegenstnde der Menil Collection in Houston, Texas. Im Herbst 2008 konnte eine Kooperation zwischen der Menil Collection in Houston, Texas und dem Seminar fr Byzantinistik der Universitt Mnster beschlossen werden: Ziel ist die Verffentlichung der byzantinischen Metallgegenstnde der texanischen Sammlung basierend auf den Vorarbeiten von Gary Vikan. Neben Schlsseln und Schlssern gibt es auch eine groe Sammlung von Stempeln sowie einige byzantinische Bleisiegel. Ziel der Prsentation ist es, die kulturhistorische Dimension dieser Sammlung anhand ausgewhlter Objekte zu zeigen und auf allgemeine Fragen der Sicherheit in Byzanz einzugehen. A. Hoti D. Komatas, Byzantine Epigraphs of Early Medieval Period in Albania (7th 11th cent.). The inscriptional wealth of the Albanian territory contains some Byzantine epigraphy belonging to the early medieval period (7th -11th cent.). A number of gold and silver vessels found in the treasure of the Vrap village (12 km from Tirana) belong to the best genre of the Byzantine repertoire. Three of them are worth mentioning: two silver plates with the control seal of the Emperor Konstant II (644/665 and 659/663); a silver kettle with the Greek inscription -NH KYPIOY EI TN YATN [Psalm 29:3] at the bottom of which the words KYPIE - BOHEI - TO OYO - AMHN have been carved; and a golden cup with Eucharistic motifs and the images of four cities in a niello where the names of the four cities have been inscribed in Greek: KCC - C KC ect. The vessels were found along with belt buckles and ornamental inlays of the Avar type, dating either in the second half of the 6th century up to the second half of the 7th century or to be more precise, between the years 559-665. There have been recent discussions about the place where these vessels were produced. We think that except for Constantinople to which one of the vessels has been linked by the seal of the Emperor Konstant II - they could belong to any other gold and silver workshop of the Aegean. One inscribed pillar, discovered in Ballsh, has been engraved in the Greek language. The inscription speaks about an important event for the Bulgarian kingdom, of which Arbanon was a part for a some time.In this inscription is memorialized Czar Boris, who was

baptized together with his people, accepting the Christian Orthodox faith, and taking the name of Mihal I, in the year 866. Rings with the full inscription were discovered in the excavations made in the cemeteries of Dalmace, Kruja, Piskova, etc. A round bezel on the rings has an engraved inscription in three lines : ANA-OHH-ICEB; ANA-OHH-ICER; ANA-OHH-ICEP. Coins dating from the 9th11th centuries were found together with some of the rings. In the Byzantine inscriptions discovered in the Amphitheatres Chapel in Durres are mentioned the proto-martyr Saint Stephen, whose name can be read on the left of the mosaics southern panel. The Amphitheatres Chapel in Durres was built in the first half of the 5th century, but previous studies and recent research have dated the mosaics and epigraphy to the 10th century. I. Jordanov, Corpus of the Byzantine Seals from Bulgaria (1979-2009) Conception and Results I have been working on the project Corpus of Byzantine Seals from Bulgaria for more than thirty years. The beginning was in 1979, when the foundations of a building used as archives by the local strategos in the period 971-1092 were discovered during archaeological excavations in the second medieval Bulgarian capital Preslav. More than 500 Byzantine lead seals, 250 lead blanks and 4 moulds for casting the blanks were found inside and near the building. All these finds were included and commented on in the monographic volume The seals from the Strategia of Preslav (971-1092). Along with the work on the Preslav seals my task has also been the location, documentation and publication of all Byzantine seals from the territory of the today Bulgaria. As a result of my constant effort more than 3,500 Byzantine seals, 800 lead blanks, 20 moulds for casting and 2 boulloteria have been located from the territory of modern Bulgaria and documented so far. A portion of them has been published in the : 1. Corpus of Byzantine Seals from Bulgaria, vol. I Byzantine Seals with Geographical Names, Sofia, 2003; 2. Corpus of Byzantine Seals from Bulgaria, Vol. II, Seals with Family Names, Sofia, 2006 ; 3. Catalogue of Medieval Seals at the Regional Historical Museum of Shumen. Shumen, 2007. The third and last volume of the Corpus is in its final stage of completion. It will practically include all sphragistic materials from the territory of modern Bulgaria. The texts of these seals undoubtedly serve as basic sources for Byzantine history, rank hierarchy, administration and prosopography. In addition to that, these seals can be used as sources for the history of specific settlements and regions. The paper deals with the various contributions of the material from Bulgaria in dating and interpretation of the texts on the seals. O. Karagiorgou, Strategoi of Hellas [with or without (Known) Boulloteria] The present paper offers the first final report on one of the many issues examined under the wider and ongoing research project Byzantine themes and sigillography (first announced by the author in Paris 2001 and later in London 2006), which aims to reconstruct the administrative structure of the Byzantine Empire by arranging its various officials chronologically within the administrative sector and the theme they served, as evident (primarily) by their lead seals and other sources. Among the various thematic officials, the group of the strategoi deserves special attention, as their office is directly linked to the creation and further development of the important administrative institution of the . It is thus evident, that the reconstruction of

their lists in chronological sequence can offer (under specific conditions) a new research tool, not just on the origins and general history of the themes, but also on more specific questions, such as the (still debated) length of their tenure or the narrower dating of their bullae. With specific examples from the corpus of the strategoi of Hellas, this paper discusses, first of all, problems of methodology in the selection, evaluation and presentation of the relevant sigillographic material, with special reference to the difficult issues of identification and dating. It then investigates how all this information interrelates with evidence from other sources and it concludes by showing how this and similar studies can enhance our understanding of the Byzantine administration and prosopography, as well as of the general history of Byzantium. Th. Kourempanas, The Seal of the First Known Katepano of Italy The present paper deals with the seal of Michael katepano of Italy. Even though this person is known from literary sources his seal is unpublished and belongs to a private collection. The provenance, the iconography of the seal and the imperial administration of the Byzantine part of the peninsula will be discussed during this presentation.
. . , .

I. Leontiades, Byzantine Seals with Family Names This paper looks at a number of lead seals of the Late Byzantine period. The names on them are in some cases very well known and in others less familiar. Reference is also made to other published and unpublished seals of these persons and members of the same families. The information in Byzantine sources about these persons and families is examined, and there is some discussion of related prosopographical and historical problems.

I. Koltsida-Makri, Lead Seals from Excavations in Greece. The historical value of lead seals with certain origin is unquestionably significant, for the reason that these seals enable us to register sufficiently the correspondence distribution in Byzantine era. Furthermore the geographical dispersion of the seals consists a precious knowledge for detecting the communication status of the central administration in Constantinople with the regional centres, on the one hand, and the contacts of the provinces between them, on the other. Apart from the lead seals still hanging on the documents they sealed, which are rare cases (such as the documents of the Holy Mountain), the seals with certain origin can be in general divided in two categories: casual finds that have been located on specific sites, and excavation finds. The last ones surely have the advantage over the first, exactly because they come to light in a context easily detectable due to correlations with the rest of the finds originating from the same excavation. Consequently these seals offer much more concrete and ample evidence to the scholars. The subject was treated for the first time during the second International Symposium of Byzantine Sigillography, that took place in Athens in the year 1988 (cf. SBS 2, 1990, proceedings of the Symposium). That was the first effort for a systematic study, presentation and registration of lead seals with certain origin. In the twenty years they have passed ever since, this

important reservoir of knowledge has been enriched with new data, which this paper aims to present for the hellenic territory. Mutatis mudandis, the number of lead seals that have been found out during excavation works in Greece in the last twenty years is not big. However, the new evidence, especially located in Northen Greece (MaKedonia and Thrace), is considered important, because it may sufficiently add new issues to the correspondence distribution during the byzantine period in the west provinces of the Imperium, corresponding to the boundaries of the modern hellenic state. , . , . : , , , , , , . , 1988 [. SBS 2(1990), ] . . , . , , , , , , .

K. Mantzana - C.Tsodoulos, Unedited Patriarchal Sigillia of the Holy Monastery of St. Stephanos at Meteora. In the present statement they will be presented three Patriarchal sigillia, which are kept in the Sacristy of the Holy Monastery of St. Stephanos, one of the most important monasteries of Meteora. In sigillia is provided information concerning the privileges of the Monastery. They inform us about the administrative autonomy and the safeguarding of its land and the holy relics. Sigillia bring lead seals which in the obverse depicts the Virgin Mary and Jesus, while the reverse bears the embossed name and title of each Ecumenical Patriarch (Raphael II (1605), Paisios II (1743) and Gregory VI (1838)), as well it is mentioned the year of publication of sigillia. , , .

 . . , ( (1605), (1743) (1838)), . A. Mazarakes, The presence of the Chamaretos family in the area of Lacedaemon is an ever challenging historical realm always prompting the researcher to further investigation, although we already have a good picture of their role and influence, thanks to the Sigilography, stemming from historical sources dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries. The ascension of Ioannis Chamaretos in the rank of a Despot, one of the highest in the Byzantine Empire, is, of course, already known to us. It had never been clear, however, under what conditions this climbing of the hierarchy ladder was, in fact, realized. The finding of a lead seal mentioning Ioannis Chamaretos as the Despot of the Laconians introduces us with a new aspect concerning the history of the family and is quite revealing as to the taking over of Sparta by the Franks, not to mention the fact that it is our only source of information pertaining to the place where Ioannis Chamaretos fled his private homeland, the castle of Maina in Laconia. The inscription on the lead seal, divided into verses written in iambic trimeter, is as follows: Seal writing Despot Chamaretos Ioannis Despot of Maina of the Laconians The laconic phrasing of the inscription that makes no reference as to the holder of the lead seal or to his past titles, coupled with the fact that nothing whatsoever concerning the ties of the Chamaretos family with the area of Lacedaemon is mentioned, leads us to chronologically place the lead seal in 1211/12, that is, after the conquest of the city of Sparta by the Franks. His relationship with the area of Lacedaemon remains ambiguous, probably deliberately so, due to, perhaps, political reasons. On the other hand, his attitude shows a constant or uninterrupted relationship with Mani, the land of the Laconians, as was also the case with Leo Chamaretos, the predecessor of Ioannis. He, too, held the title of tyrant of the Laconians. In 1222, Ioannis Chamaretos fled to the court of Theodoros Comnenos. A political conflict between himself and his relative G. Daemonogiannis was partly to blame for his escape. Even when retired to the castle of Mani, Ioannis Chamaretos, did not cease to be constantly involved in political skirmishes against the invaders of his land. He, allegedly, managed to reach the region of Epirus after he was left to die at some isolated beach by his opponent and relative G. Daemonogiannis. To us, this probability seems highly remote, so, we may just assume that his end reached us in a dramatized version. What it all boils down to, finally, is that Ioannis Chamaretos somehow managed to outlive the wrath of his rivals and to reach the court of Theodoros Comnenos thus sealing a whole chapter of the history not only of his family but also of Laconia. J. Nesbitt - J. Cotsonis ,The Image of the Doubting Thomas on an Unpublished Seal of the 6th Century St. Thomas is only rarely depicted on Byzantine seals. For example, in volume 1 of Zacos and Veglerys Byzantine Lead Seals (Basel, 1972), one encounters only a single representation of this apostle (no. 1292)a (highly corroded) profile bust. To this limited range of citations may be added a seal preserved in a private collection. If the object and its decoration were simply a question of another bust, the significance of the specimen and its

ornament would be limited. But in this case we are dealing with a New Testament scene: the climactic moment of the meeting of the risen Christ and the doubting Thomas. St. Thomas is shown at left and turned. His knees and head are bent, while with his right hand he probes the wound in Christs right side. A nimbate Christ stands facing, his right arm held above the figure who requires tactile proof of his resurrection. There are several clues to the objects date. One is a christogram above the head of St. Thomas. Ornament on the seals reverse is divided into two zones. In the upper field is a bust of the Virgin; below her appears a cruciform monogram. Christogram and cruciform mongram point to the reign of Justinian after 540. One goal of this paper is to make this specimen known. Another is to explore its imagery in terms of comparanda, specifically ampullae and wall decoration.

B. Papadopoulou, A Byzantine Lead Seal found in Nikopolis (Epirus) In this paper will be presented an unpublished byzantine lead seal found during excavations in the Basilica Alkisonos at Nikopolis. . P. Papadopoulou, Lead Seals from Byzantine Butrint (Albania) Recent excavations undertaken in different parts of the archaeological site of Butrint, Byzantine Bouthrotos, in Southern Albania, shed new light on our understanding of this region in the Byzantine period. Of particular interest is a group of five Byzantine lead seals. They all date to the late 9th 10th centuries and record five imperial officials, among which the basilikos protospatharios and strategos of Dyrrachion. The seals were recovered from a Middle Byzantine household located in the Vrina Plain to the south of the acropolis. The material culture ceramics imported from southern Italy and ornamental fittings and jewelry from the south-western Balkans point to the households connections with the neighboring regions, while the seals, as well as a group of forty-eight copper folles and a silver miliaresion coming from the same layers, testify to the administrative importance of the Vrina plain site during the 9th and 10th centuries. Lead seals from the Albanian territory or mentioning officials from this region are extremely rare. This fact adds special importance to the group of seals discussed in this paper, more so since they came from controlled archaeological excavations.

V. Prigent, Unpublished Seals of a Provate Collection from Sardinia A small collection of seals belonging to an ecclesiastic from Sardinia will be presented. The origin of the seals is said to be the island itself but the profile of the general profile of the material seems to point toward a Turkish origin, before reaching Italy as a group. Several seals belongings to Comnenos-era aristocrats, like John Comnenos, the sebaste Eudokia, Georges, son of the Megas Domestikos, or Niketas Tornikios, can be identified. The hypothesis of a turkish origin of the material stems from the presence of a group a geographical seals, mainly ecclesiastivcal, linked to western Asia Minor, among which the seals of metropolitans of Ladokeia, Sardis or Magnesia. A more ancien specimen refers to the icon of the Theotokos of Szopolis.

The collection also contains, apart from a seal of Andronikos III, a well conserved exemplary of the token coined in the names of emperors Romanus Lekapenos, his son Christophoros and Constantin VII Porphyrogenitus, probably on this occasion of the wedding of the daughter of Christophoros with the Bulgarian tsar Peter. A. Rhoby, Epigrams, Epigraphy and Sigillography The ambition to attach inscriptions on objects has always been very popular. Inscriptional words either describe the object or the image they are attached to or inform about the donor or the owner. Although thousands of Byzantine objects are covered with inscriptions quite a lot of them have never been analyzed properly with one exception: The importance of legends on seals has already been recognized many decades ago. The careful reading of legends on seals contributes to many other fields such as history, prosopography, etc. A considerable number of these legends are given in verse shape. Metrical inscriptions on seals are interesting insofar as the texts purpose is not merely informative. The text itself has already some specific value. Beside seals, many other Byzantine objects bear metrical inscriptions (epigrams) as well. These epigrams, which are of different length ranging from a mere monostichon up to the dozens of verses , are inscribed on different objects of minor arts, but also on portable icons, church walls and other media. Interestingly enough there is hardly any connection between metrical legends on seals and verses on other objects. Only few examples of verses are known which are inscribed on both media. However, it is highly recommended and worth to compare these verses. By analyzing them carefully we learn more about Byzantine poetry in general and different ways of representation in Byzantine society in particular. M. Schaller, berlegungen zur Herkunft des Monogramms Karls des Groen Am 4. Januar 1905 verffentlichte der Archivdirektor Georg Wolfram aus Metz in ElsaLothringen in der Mnchner Allgemeinen Zeitung einen Artikel, worin er feststellte, dass zwischen dem Monogramm in den Urkunden Karls des Groen und jenem des Patriarchen Narses von Armenien, welches Letzterer in der Zeit von 640661 gebrauchte, signifikante hnlichkeiten bestnden. Aufgrund dieser Erkenntnis formulierte er die These, der zufolge fr die Genese des Monogramms Karls des Groen byzantinische Einflsse nicht auszuschlieen wren. Am 27. Februar 1905 bekrftigte Wolfram in einem weiteren Artikel der nmlichen Zeitung seine Ansichten zu diesem Thema. Gegen die von Wolfram vorgebrachten Argumente bezog der Historiker Johann Lechner in einem Beitrag, der im Neuen Archiv fr ltere deutsche Geschichtskunde (a. O. 30 [1905] 702707) verffentlicht wurde, entschieden Stellung. Lechner, der an der Edition der Diplome der Karolinger, welche damals unter der Federfhrung des bekannten Medivisten Engelbert Mhlbacher durchgefhrt wurde, mitarbeitete, schloss byzantinische Einflsse auf das Karlsmonogramm aus und verwies auf bereits frh im Westen auftretende Mnzen mit Kreuzmonogrammen, nach deren Vorbild seiner Meinung nach das Karlsmonogramm entworfen worden wre. Nach wie vor wird Lechners Aufsatz selbst in rezenten Beitrgen, wie in jenen von Mark Mersiowsky (1996) oder Peter Rck (1996), magebend zitiert. Fr einzelne spezifische Merkmale im Karlsmonogramm, welche Lechner in seiner kurzen Abhandlung zu deuten unterlie, die aber sehr wohl einen byzantinischen Hintergrund vermuten lassen, suchten Mersiowsky und Rck, die diesen Mangel in der Argumentation Lechners bemerkten, Erklrungen zu geben. Dabei verwiesen sie zur Herkunft alphabetischer Besonderheiten (wie des Buchstabens K) auf die Ethymologien Isidors von Sevilla. Der folgende Beitrag setzt sich zum Ziel, einen kritischen Blick auf Lechners Argumente und jene der fhrenden Diplomatiker der westlichen Medivistik zu werfen. Andererseits will er den bekannten Bestand an

Kreuzmonogrammen im Bereich der byzantinischen Sigillographie auf Exemplare signifikanter (uerlicher bzw. rein bildlicher) hnlichkeit mit dem Monogramm Karls des Groen berprfen. Sollten dabei Beispiele gefunden werden knnen, die deutlich vor den ersten Gebrauch des Karlsmonogramms (768) zu datieren sind, drfte ein byzantinischer Einfluss auf dieses Handzeichen nicht lnger ausgeschlossen werden. On January the 4th 1905 G. Wolfram, chief-archivist in the city of Metz in ElsaLothringen published an article in a newspaper of Munich, the Allgemeine Zeitung. He recognised some significant similiarities between the monograms of Charles the Great and the patriarch Narses of Armenia (used from this patriarch between 640 and 661 a. d.). Wolfram made the case, the developement of Charles monogram could have happened under influences of byzantine monograms and on 27th of February 1905 in the Allgemeine Zeitung was printed a supplemental article of him. But the Austrian historian J. Lechner objected to the hypothesis of Wolfram. Lechner, who under the leading of E. Mhlbacher was involved to the edition of the documents of the Karolingian emperors, told the international scholarship of medieval history-research as answer against Wolframs opinion in a short article in the Neues Archiv fr ltere Deutsche Geschichtskunde (Ibid. t. 30 [1905] 702707), that he had never found any Byzantine influences in Karolingian documents. Lechner refered to coins with monograms in form of crosses, existing in the western part of Europe since the eastern-gothic empire under Theoderich the Great. He proposed the solution, to reduce the genesis of the monogram of Charles on these coins. 90 years later the article of Lechner ist still cited in the recent studies of M. Mersiowsky or P. Rck (1996), who dealed with the subject as well, on the first position, although Lechner could not explain some charakteristics in the monogram, for example the letter K. His followers, Mersiowsky and Rck, have thought about a connection to the Ethymologiae of Isidor from Sevilla, but the letter K is very rarely used in the Ethymologiae. This short study has the intention, to reassess the arguments, to compare the early Byzantine cross-monograms with those in the documents of Charles the Great, and to analyse some similiarities.

W. Seibt, Zukunftsperspektiven der byzantinischen Siegelkunde Auf welchen Gebieten sind die bedeutendsten Wissenszuwchse zu erwarten? Die byzantinische Siegelkunde hat sich als sehr wertvoll fr das Studium der Historischen Geographie des Byzantinischen Reiches erwiesen. Seitdem nun auch die diesbezglichen Bestnde in Dumbarton Oaks und Bulgarien sehr gut aufgearbeitet sind und viele weitere Studien vorliegen, darf man mit Fug annehmen, dass der Prozentsatz an neuen Entdeckungen eher gering sein wird, auch wenn sicherlich noch so manche berraschungen zu erwarten sind, sowohl bei mangelhaft vorpublizierten, als auch bei noch unpubliziertem Material, bzw. bei Stcken, die infolge von Fragmentierung oder anderen Beschdigungen bisher nicht verlsslich gedeutet werden konnten. Die Fortschritte bei der genaueren Datierung erlauben es uns heute bereits, fr viele Dukate, Themen usw. eine chronologisch gegliederte Liste der Amtstrger zusammenzustellen, die dann weitere Schlsse zur Verwaltungsgeschichte zulsst. Und bei selten oder bisher kaum belegten Termini werden erst Siegel mehr Klarheit bringen. Soweit der Fundort bekannt ist, lassen sich daraus bisweilen Indizien aber natrlich zumeist keine Beweise fr den Amtsbereich des betreffenden Beamten oder Wrdentrgers ableiten, auch wenn dieser nicht genannt ist; Fortschritte wurden schon erzielt, weitere sind zu erhoffen. Hier liegt auch der besondere Wert geschlossener Fundkomplexe wie etwa bei Zypern, Karthago, die Krim usw., selbst wenn viele Stcke fr sich allein wenig aussagekrftig wren. Was die Provinzialverwaltung allgemein betrifft, lassen sich sicher noch bessere Erkenntnisse herausarbeiten, beispielsweise beim Problemkreis der chronologischen Einordnung der Entmachtung der Prtorianerprfektur und der allmhlichen Umwandlung des damit

verbundenen Systems. Dass Siegel bei der Klrung dieser Fragen eine wichtige Rolle spielen, wurde erkannt, die sich daraus ergebenden Mglichkeiten aber noch nicht voll gentzt. Auch fr die Zentralverwaltung wird so Manches aus Siegeln besser gelernt und verstanden werden knnen. Nicht zuletzt bei der Interpretation von Siegeln bestimmter Logothesien, die weitab von byzantinischem Territorium gefunden wurden, sollte man vorsichtiger sein als bisher fters geschehen und nicht mit falschen Schlussfolgerungen Verwirrung stiften. Die meisten neuen Erkenntnisse sind sicherlich auf dem Gebiet der Prosopographie, insbesondere der byzantinischen Familiennamen (in einem sehr weiten Sinn des Wortes) zu erwarten, nicht nur was die Korrekturen lterer Publikationen betrifft, wie wir krzlich zeigen konnten, sondern auch bei der Auswertung viel bisher unedierten Materials. Deshalb ist es doppelt erfreulich, dass die nchsten Siegel-Bnde, die ab jetzt in Dumbarton Oaks erarbeitet werden, diesem Bereich gewidmet sein sollen. Sowohl fr bekannte Familien wird viel Neues zutage kommen, was das Auf und Ab dieser Kreise besser erkennen lsst, als auch fr weniger bekannte bzw. bisher berhaupt nicht belegte Namen falls sie richtig gelesen werden! Es kursieren ja leider nicht wenige ghoast names - und die sollten nicht vermehrt werden. Soweit es sich um fremde Namen handelt, die Hinweise auf eine Abstammung aus dem Ausland liefern, sind auch weitere Informationen darin enthalten, etwa was die Rolle bestimmter Ethnien in byzantinischen Kommandopositionen betrifft. Hoffentlich gelingt es, die Frage der Identifizierung oder Trennung homonymer synchroner Siegler allmhlich noch besser in den Griff zu bekommen. Die metrischen Legenden byzantinischer Bleisiegel werden in absehbarer Zeit in einem neuen Corpus zugnglich sein, das die bisherige Zusammenstellung von Pre Laurent nicht nur der Zahl nach weit bertrifft. Neben vielen Allerweltsversen sind auch anspruchsvolle dabei, die nicht zuletzt das Interesse der Philologen verdienen. Bei der Interpretation von umschreibenden termini technici ist eine gewisse Vorsicht geboten. Was bildliche Darstellungen auf Siegeln betrifft, gibt es schon viele Detailstudien, aber auch hier kann noch viel mehr erreicht werden. Besonders interessant erscheinen selten belegte Heilige, auch wenn man bei der Interpretation vor vorschnellen Schlssen auf der Hut sein muss. Auch bei hufig belegten Heiligen finden sich gelegentlich neue Darstellungstypen. Die schwierigeFrage, ob man bei bestimmten Familien (oder auch politischen Faktionen) bestimmte Prferenzen fr einen ganz konkreten Heiligen bzw. sogar eine bestimmte Ikone postulieren darf, bedarf noch weiterer Untersuchungen. Es ist das Verdienst von J.-Cl. Cheynet, hier wichtige Anstze geliefert zu haben. Je mehr Material zur Verfgung steht, umso eher lassen sich serise Schlsse auf die Frmmigkeitsgeschichte ableiten. Monogramme sind ein schwieriges Kapitel; in vielen Fllen wird bestenfalls ein Lsungsvorschlag geboten werden knnen, aber fters sind auch aus monogrammatisch verschlsselten Siegeln weiterfhrende Schlsse mglich, die bisweilen berraschen. Die Archologen sind zumeist ber Mnzfunde sehr erfreut, weil sie bei der Datierung bestimmter Ausgrabungs-Schichten eine wertvolle Hilfestellung leisten knnen. Erfreulicherweise entdecken die Kollegen von der Archologie allmhlich auch den Wert der Siegel, die man frher allzu oft achtlos entsorgt; bei relativ genauer Datierung und guter Interpretation knnten diese jedoch bisweilen erstaunliche Ergebnisse zeitigen, innerhalb und auerhalb der jeweiligen Grenzen des Byzantinischen Reiches. Deshalb finden wir es doppelt verdienstvoll, dass beim Symposion in Ioannina diesem Aspekt ein gebhrender Platz eingerumt wird. Je verlsslicher die Ergebnisse der sigillographischen Forschung werden, umso leichter wird es den Byzantinisten allgemein fallen, die Scheu vor diesem Material zu berwinden und auch den hier reichlich vorhandenen Quellenbestand voll in die Forschung zu integrieren.

Ch. Stavrakos,The Sigillographical Profile of Epirus In this paper will be presented some remarks concerning the byzantine seals directly or indirectly related with Epirus (Thema of Nikopolis and the Despotate). This research is based on a project which publish and re-publish byzantine seals from Epirus. ( ) . . V. Stepanenko, The Apostles Sts. Peter and Paul in Byzantine Sigillography The twin images of Sts. Peter and Paul are relatively rare in byzantine art of VI-XII . The evidence of small popularity of these images in the Empire is their almost full absence in the Byzantine sigillography. Only about ten from thousands seals bear the twin images of the apostles on its obverses. The possible explanation is found in the fact that the last stage of their activities was connected mainly with Rome, where they suffered the martyrdom, and where their relics soon became the objects of worship, and where their images very early appeared on the Popes seals. Byzantine church seemed not to have possessed their relics. Small popularity of their cults in Byzantium can be explained by the opposition of New and Old Rome. Before iconoclasm twin images of the apostles are known on the seals of unknown metropolitan of Ankyra VII-VIII cc.(DO4, 2.4 and metropolitan of Iconions Longinos VII-VIII cc. (DO3, 91.1), in X-XII cc. the seals of the bishop of Herakleia Demetrios (DO1, 53.5) are known, of the bishop of Corfu Kosmas (Constantopoulos, n.113), of the anonymous metropolitans of Corfu, John and Basil (DO2. 5.1, 5.3,5.4), of the metropolitans of Adrianoupolis Nicephoros (DO1,44.11) and Eustaphios (Iordanov,1, 3.8). Last seals with the images of a)Theotokos Episkepsis on the obv. and the Sts. Peter and Paul on the rev., b) of Isidoros on the obv. and the apostles on the rev. The images of Sts. Peter and Paul are known in the art of the Byzantine cultural circle states, as, for example, the icon of the middle of the XI c. in Novgorod (Russia). Only on the obv. of the metropolitan of Tarsos Theophilos seal Sts. apostles are represented in the exceptional iconography of Apostles greeting each other (DO5, 5.6). Its possible that the prototype of this iconography was made in the Western Europe. In favour of this supposition speaks the existence of this scene on the ivory panel V-VI cc. from Pompeii region (H.Kessler). The source-book of this scene is considered to be the Greek apocrypha y.450-550, where the meeting of Sts. apostles in Rome is mentioned, but the iconographic tradition was created in Italy (E. Kutzinger). Later in the Western Europe this scene became the part of the illustrations to the Vitae of Sts. Peter and Paul (for example, the wall-painting of the basilica of St. Pauls Outside the Walls in Rome and the mosaics of the Cathedral in Montreal). In Byzantium the image of two apostles appeared on the obv. of the seals of the bishop of Herakleia Demetrios at the end of the X c. and later on the obv. of the seals of the metropolitans of Corfu (XI-XIIIcc.) and Adrianoupolis (XI-XII) and in the wall-painting of Vatopedi (the end of the XII c.) and on the miniature on the ms.7 in the Athens National library (XII c.). In sigillography this scene is known only on the a.s. of the seal of the metropolitan of Tarsos. During of the Latin occupation of Constantinople Sts. Peter and Paul appeared on the obv. of the local coins (Hendy, pl.27.10-11- type T).

In the second part of the XIII-XIV cc. the images of the Sts. apostles in height appeared in the Byzantine art again ( the icons in the monastery of St. Catherine on the mount Sinai (XIV c.), in the Vatopedi (XIV c.), in Moscow Kremlin (XIV c.), the miniature of the manuscript from Great Lavra in Moscow (SHM, muz.3648). Presumably, the reason was the pro-Western policy of Michael VIII Palaiologos and his contacts with Rome. There is an epigram of Manuel Phillos On the icon of Sts. Peter and Paul greeting each other and the description of a similar icon by John Hortasmenos. But in Byzantine sigillography of that poque twin images of Sts. Peter and Paul are nowhere in evidence. And only in the post-byzantine period the iconography enjoys great popularity in the painting of the Venetian Candia. The rarity of the twin images of Sts Peter and Paul in the Byzantine sigillography illustrates the Hermitage collection. The busts of the Sts. Apostles is on the obv. of the seal M4393 of the XI c.. belong to the Eustaphios. Unfortunately, the geographic origin is debatable. On the obv. of the seal M-6835 ( the end of X c.?) is the bust of Theotokos Orans and on the rev. - Sts. apostles greeting each other. The quantity of the seals with the images of Sts. Peter and Paul may grow in the future, but this increase will not be decisive. E. Stepanova, Seals of Thessalonica from the Hermitage Museum (Research conducted with financial support from the Russian Foundation for Humanities (grant 08-01-00318a) At the Hermitage collection about 70 seals of Thessalonica are kept. They occupy almost all medieval period of the history of this town, that is the 7th-13th centuries. Some of them are well-known to the specialists. They were published by N. Lihachev, B. Panchenko, V. Shandrovskaja. Other ones have parallels in different collections of seals. Among them are the seals of Meligalas, imperial kommerkiarios and abydikos; of Pardas, vardarios; seal of two persons: Leo, imperial spatharios and Christophoros, imperial strator and kommerkiarios of Thessalonica; of Staurakios, kommerkiarios; of John Spartinos, prokaphimenos (XIII c.); of Constantine Kamateros, imperial notarios and judge of Boleron, Strymon and Thessalonica (XI c.); of John, archbishop (early X c.); of Theodulos, archbishop (late XI c.);of Theodotos, archbishop (VIII c.), etc. . In my report I shall pay special attention to the seals which are not published yet. The most interesting are the seals of Pastilas, proedros and dux of Thessalonica and Servia (XI c.); of Leo, komes tes kortes (VIII c.); of Theophanos, epektes (IX/X c.); of Joseph, imperial spatharokandidatos and kommerkiarios (X c.); of Romanos, strategos (X c.); of Leo, archbishop (VII c.); of Theodoros, eparchos (VIII c.), a large serie of seals of Persentios, eparchos (VIII c.).

I. Varalis, (Lead Seals from Thessaly Reconsidered) The lead seals of attested Thessalian provenance have been published over a century ago by Nikolaos Giannopoulos in a series of articles in the Byzantinische Zeitschrift and the Epeteris tes Hetereias Byzantinon Spoudon. A part of them has been transferred to the National Numismatic Museum, Athens, and the rest have been kept in Giannopoulos private collection, the whereabouts of which is at the moment quite difficult to monitor. The seals are said to be surface findings from surveys done by Giannopoulos himself over the southern part of medieval Halmyros, located atop the Tsingeli hill to the north-east of the modern town. The corpus of these lead seals is the only known from Middle Byzantine Thessaly at the eve of the fourth crusade and, thus, it constitutes an interesting group in itself. The study of the iconography of the seals and a revision of their texts will help to deepen our knowledge of the prosopographical index of the ecclesiastical and secular officials, who were acting in this remote region of the Empire. The information retrieved by the study of these seals, in the light of data offered by

archaeological excavations and written sources, will contribute to the assessment of the various components of the medieval city and its monumental topography as well. .-. Wassiliou-Seibt, . . , , , . . (11) . . ( 8 .) (Laurent, Corpus V/1, 619) . . : 1) . 2) , , . 3) , , . 4) , ( ). 5) . 6) , . 7) . 8) . 9) . Z. Zhekova, Byzantine Seals from the Collection of Regional Historical Museum, Shumen. The Shumen museum is an institution with a long history. In the remote 1857, the first museum collection was held in the town of Shumen. In 1902, the Shumen archaeological society was established, which two years later grew into an Archaeological museum. Thus one of the first museums in the country was created. The rich historical background of this part of the country predetermined the archaeological orientation of the collected materials. It is a fact that in the first inventory book the newly-entered materials were differentiated into two sections: Miscellaneous and Numismatics. Probably this division is not accidental, since today the Shumen numismatic collection is the largest and richest in the country. As a brilliant expert in coins, Dr. Vassil Haralanov was the person who documented the newly-entered numismatic monuments in the inventory books. The description of the first sigillographic materials was made precisely by him. Thus, the two unique sigillographic monuments the bronze dies of Tsar Peter I found in Pliska (1926) and of Tsar Micho Asen found in Kaleto locality near the village of Mogila, Shumen region (1932) documented by Dr. Haralanov in 1932 can be considered as the first specimens of the sigillographic collection. The monuments are described skillfully with applied illustrations of their imprints. The next materials that entered the collection were the four Byzantine seals found in Pliska in the course of regular archaeological excavations in 1937.

Today the Shumen collection of seals took over the lead in the country. The exact number of sigillographic materials making up the collection of seals of the Regional Historical Museum in Shumen is almost 800 specimens. Only ten of them were acquired during regular archaeological excavations. The rest were purchased from private persons and collectors. In the course of nearly twenty years several large collections were purchased originating from a specific geographical region. The greatest number of seals of medieval Bulgaria, more than 84 specimens, is accumulated in Shumen. Only the Shumen collection contains four unique bronze dies for wax seals. Three of them belonged to the Bulgarian Tsars Peter I, Micho Asen, John Alexander and the fourth is associated with the Catalan nobleman Bernard Sa Guardia. In addition to the lead seals and bronze dies, the collection also contains technological materials accompanying the process of striking and affixing the seal to the correspondence: lead blanks, on which the imprints of the boulloteria were struck and one bronze mould for casting. The chronological frame of the Shumen collection includes the period from the Vth through the XIXth centuries. The Byzantine seals are largest in number 700 specimens, followed by the Bulgarian, a certain number of west European seals (the so called papal bullae), Ottoman and stamps from Late Antiquity. The focus is on the period Xth-XIIth centuries, the time of the highest concentration of sigillographic artifacts from the territory of modern Bulgaria a fact that can be explained bearing in mind that Bulgaria was part of the Byzantine Empire at that juncture. The Shumen collection of seals is distinguished for its variety thematic, chronological, geographic. Unlike others, which are limited in time and space, it is dynamic. The most valuable seals can be seen in the strong room of the museum, the Treasury room, where they are displayed very attractively.