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Remarks on the evidence of the new seals (6th-7th c.) from Bulgaria (Moesia Secunda, Haimimontos, Thrace)

Ιστορία

• Γκουτζιουκώστας, Ανδρέας

The present study analyses the sigillographie material (6th-7th c.) published by I. Jordanov in the last two volumes (III. 1-2) of the Corpus of Byzantine Seals from Bulgaria (2009). One of the advantages of this work is that in many cases the place where the seals were found is mentioned.The diffusion of the seals of Justinian I (527-535) (22 new and 19 already known) in the provinces of Thrace, Haimimontos, Moesia Secunda and Rhodope as well as the 13 seals from Scythia Minor edited, mainly by I. Barnea, gives a clearer picture and reveals the permanent imperial interest in the neuralgic region of Thrace. A new seal of Phokas (602-610) from the region of Shumen and two seals of Constantine IV (668-685), one from Silistra and one from the village of Tsarevtsi (district of Odessos), imply the Byzantine presence in the northeastern Balkans during the 7th century (until 680).Seals with monograms (analysed as forenames) that are dated between the 6th and 7th century and have been discovered in the lands of the provinces of Thrace, Haimimontos, Moesia Secunda and Scythia Minor (6th-7th and 7th century) prove also the presence of the Byzantines in the area during this period. Some of them probably belong to dignitaries and military officers, such as the magistri militum per Thracias Priscus and Comentiolos (late 6th c.). Seals of military officers (e.g. stratelates, topoteretes) (7th and 6th-7th c.) and other dignitaries (e.g. vicarius of Thrace) (second half of the 6th or later) of the Byzantine state as well as of persons with high honorific titles (e.g. apo hypaton, patrikios, illoustrios) (6th-7th and 7th c.) that were found in the above provinces certify, in our view, the function of the military and administrative machine of the Byzantine Empire in the dioecesis of Thrace during the 7th century.A new seal of the prefectus insularum Theodoras published by I. Jordanov should be attributed to the quaestor exercitus Theodoras, who is also known from other sigillary material (last quarter of the 7th c.). It seems, according to the evidence of seals, that he used at least two boulloteria and was in charge of an important office with intense administrative activity. His seat was in Odessos (modern Varna), which remained under Byzantine control until 680 and was not neither completely devastated nor depopulated during the second decade of the 7th century, as can be also assumed from a seal of the known magister Bonus (626-627) that was probably discovered there. Finally, the contact between Moesia Secunda and Cyprus in the framework of the quaestura exercitus is probably confirmed by two seals, from the same boullo- terion, of Ioannes Plagiotes (probably first half of the 7th c.), which were found in Cyprus and in Preslav.

• History and Archaeology

• Χριστιανικές αρχαιότητες
• Ιστορία, Αρχαία
• Πολιτισμός, Βυζαντινός

Η παρούσα μελέτη αποτελεί ανεπτυγμένη μορφή της ανακοίνωσης που παρουσιάστηκε κατά τις εργασίες του ΛΑ' Πανελληνίου Ιστορικού Συνεδρίου της Ελληνικής Ιστορικής Εταιρείας (Θεσσαλονίκη, 28-30 Μαΐου 2010).