Late Byzantine sigillographic evidence from Cappadocia: lead seals from Kırşehir with a unique overstruck example
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Ergün Laflı
Abstract
This short essay presents four 11th century A.D. Byzantine lead seals, all of which are stored in the local museum of Kırşehir, in ancient Cappadocia, which is located today in southeastern part of central Turkey. The Museum of Kırşehir owns a minor collection of at least 13 Byzantine lead seals and a selection of four unpublished seals is being presented, which were sold to the museum by local antique dealers from the Turkish provinces of Kırşehir and Aksaray. All of the seals are dated to the late 10th and early or mid-11th centuries A.D. No. 1 is an overstruck seal with a parallel piece which is a very unique specimen and raises some sigillographic and prosopographic questions. The three other seals are discussed with a focus to Byzantine dignitaries and their offices during the 11th century A.D. The descriptive discussion at the beginning briefly touches upon a some geographical and historical issues related to Kırşehir and its museum. This small collection of seals provides important evidence regarding the seal owners and the administration of the themes of Cappadocia and Charsianon on the eastern border of the Byzantine Empire. The paper offers a substantive analysis of the material, with a discussion and resolution of the sigillographic inscriptions and imagery.
© 2022 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Inhalt
- Siglenverzeichnis
- I. Abteilung
- On the toponymics of the Great Palace of Constantinople: the Daphne
- Late Roman emperorship in Constantinople: embodiment and ‘unbodiment’ of Christian virtues
- Heraclius Constantine III – Emperor of Byzantium (613–641)
- The Arab conquest in Byzantine historical memory: the long view
- Allegorie und Lob der Physik: Das Proömium der Paraphrase des Theodoros Metochites zu naturwissenschaftlichen Schriften des Aristoteles
- A list of village payments and the bouleutic career of Theodoros
- Late Byzantine sigillographic evidence from Cappadocia: lead seals from Kırşehir with a unique overstruck example
- “A statue of bronze, by which times of old used to honor men of rare example”: Materials of honorific statues in Late Antiquity
- Textkritik im Dienste der Wahrheitsfindung? Das VI. Ökumenische Konzil (680/81) und seine Fälschungsnachweise
- Justinianus Eponymus: Überlegungen zur letzten Glanzzeit kaiserlicher Namensverleihungen an Städte
- Islamicate alchemy in Greek letters on the first page of Marcianus graecus 299
- The silk industry around Naupaktos and its implications
- II. ABTEILUNG
- Pauline Allen / Bronwen Neil. Greek and Latin letters in Late Antiquity. The Christianisation of a literary form
- Nicholas Drocourt / Élisabeth Malamut (eds.). La diplomatie byzantine, de l’Empire romain aux confins de l’Europe (ve–xve s.)
- James Howard-Johnston. The last great war of antiquity
- Alex Metcalfe / Hervin Fernandez-Acevez / Marco Muresu (eds.). The making of medieval Sardinia
- David K. Pettegrew / William R. Karaher / Thomas W. Davis (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of early Christian archaeology
- Nachrichten
- Totentafel
- Nachrufe. Athanasios Kambylis (9. 1. 1928 – 20. 9. 2021), von Ioannis Vassis — 391 Benjamin Hendrickx (24 July 1939 – 8 July 2021)
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Inhalt
- Siglenverzeichnis
- I. Abteilung
- On the toponymics of the Great Palace of Constantinople: the Daphne
- Late Roman emperorship in Constantinople: embodiment and ‘unbodiment’ of Christian virtues
- Heraclius Constantine III – Emperor of Byzantium (613–641)
- The Arab conquest in Byzantine historical memory: the long view
- Allegorie und Lob der Physik: Das Proömium der Paraphrase des Theodoros Metochites zu naturwissenschaftlichen Schriften des Aristoteles
- A list of village payments and the bouleutic career of Theodoros
- Late Byzantine sigillographic evidence from Cappadocia: lead seals from Kırşehir with a unique overstruck example
- “A statue of bronze, by which times of old used to honor men of rare example”: Materials of honorific statues in Late Antiquity
- Textkritik im Dienste der Wahrheitsfindung? Das VI. Ökumenische Konzil (680/81) und seine Fälschungsnachweise
- Justinianus Eponymus: Überlegungen zur letzten Glanzzeit kaiserlicher Namensverleihungen an Städte
- Islamicate alchemy in Greek letters on the first page of Marcianus graecus 299
- The silk industry around Naupaktos and its implications
- II. ABTEILUNG
- Pauline Allen / Bronwen Neil. Greek and Latin letters in Late Antiquity. The Christianisation of a literary form
- Nicholas Drocourt / Élisabeth Malamut (eds.). La diplomatie byzantine, de l’Empire romain aux confins de l’Europe (ve–xve s.)
- James Howard-Johnston. The last great war of antiquity
- Alex Metcalfe / Hervin Fernandez-Acevez / Marco Muresu (eds.). The making of medieval Sardinia
- David K. Pettegrew / William R. Karaher / Thomas W. Davis (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of early Christian archaeology
- Nachrichten
- Totentafel
- Nachrufe. Athanasios Kambylis (9. 1. 1928 – 20. 9. 2021), von Ioannis Vassis — 391 Benjamin Hendrickx (24 July 1939 – 8 July 2021)
