Four lead seals of the 11th century from Yozgat

In the museum of Yozgat in eastern-central Anatolia four eleventh century A.D. seals of Byzantine dignitaries are stored, all of them originate probably from central Anatolia. Basileios Trichinopodes was hypatos and strategos of Anazarbus in Cilicia in the middle of the eleventh century, Katakalon was hypatos and strategos of Larissa in Cappadocia in the third quarter of the same century, a civil dignitary, probably named Pirmanes, was protospatharios and chartoularios of the Bucellarian Theme in the second half of the tenth or early eleventh century, and Samuel Alousianos, a grandson of the last Bulgarian tsar Ivan Vladislav, was proedros and dux, probably fighting the Turkish invaders in Eastern Anatolia during the difficult years in the 1070s. Adressen: Prof. Dr. Ergün Laflı, Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi, Edebiyat Fakültesi, Arkeoloji Bölümü, Tınaztepe/Kaynaklar Yerleşkesi, Buca, TR-35160 Izmir, Turkey; elafli@yahoo.ca – Prof. Dr. Werner Seibt, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Abteilung Byzanzforschung, Hollandstraße 11–13/4, A-1020 Vienna, austria; werner.seibt@oeaw.ac.at In the museum of Yozgat four Byzantine lead seals are being stored, all of which belong to the eleventh century AD. The city of Yozgat is 217 km east of Ankara and located in a very fertile plain east of the Halys (today Kızılırmak) in easterncentral Anatolia. In the eleventh century the region around Yozgat was included in Charsianon1 in the former Greek-Roman region of Cappadocia, center of which was first in Charsianon (today probably Muşalikalesi in Akdağmadeni, Yozgat) and later in Caesarea (today Kayseri). In the tenth century, the theme of Charsianon became a major stronghold of the military aristocracy and after 1045, a large number of Armenians were settled there, leading to friction with the local Greeks. The theme was lost to the Seljuk Turks following the Battle of Mantzikert in 1071 and subsequently assigned to the Danishmendids.  Cf. F. Hild / M. Restle, Kappadokien (Kappadokia, Charsianon, Sebasteia und Lykandos). TIB, . ÖAW, phil.-hist. Kl., Denkschriften, . Vienna , – (Charsianon); –  (Korniaspa). DOI 10.1515/bz-2020-0040 BZ 2020; 113(3): 923–932

In the museum of Yozgat four Byzantine lead seals are being stored, all of which belong to the eleventh century AD.The city of Yozgat is 217k me ast of Ankara and located in avery fertile plain east of the Halys (todayKızılırmak)ineasterncentral Anatolia. In the eleventh centurythe region around Yozgat was included in Charsianon¹ in the former Greek-Roman region of Cappadocia, center of which was first in Charsianon (todayp robablyM u ş alikalesi in Akdağmadeni, Yozgat) and later in Caesarea (todayKayseri). In the tenth century,the theme of Charsianon became amajor strongholdofthe military aristocracy and after 1045, alarge number of Armenians weres ettled there, leading to friction with the local Greeks.The theme was lost to the Seljuk Turks following the Battle of Mantzikert in 1071 and subsequentlya ssigned to the Danishmendids.
During the earlyB yzantine periods the region had numerous small rural sites and few cities, such as Tavium (modern villageo fB üyüknefes).² The number of höyük(mound) sites in Yozgat,such as Alişar and ÇadırHöyük, belong to the third and second millenaries B.C.,most of which were also used between the fifth and eleventh centuries A.D. uninterruptedly. Byzantine presenceo ft he region continued up to eleventh, twelfth or even thirteenth centuries, as in the Notitiae Episcopatuum the bishopric of Tavium is mentioned up to the 13th century as the first suffragan of Ancyra.³ Beside aR omant hermal spring site between Tavium and Caesarea, called as "Basilica Therma",⁴ Byzantine phases of the höyük sites, such as ÇadırH öyük,⁵ Alişar and Kerkenes as well as results of the archaeological projects at Euchaïta (todayA vkat-Beyözü)⁶ and Ḫattuša (todayB o ğ azkale),⁷ both in the neighbouring provinceo fÇ orum, are important for the Byzantine heritageo ft he region.⁸  Cf. K. Strobel,Tavium (Büyüknefes,Provinz Yozgat)und seine Region. Bericht über die Kampagnen  -. Istanbuler Mitteilungen  ()  - (with further references to previous studies on Byzantine Tavium and Yozgat);and idem,Städtebauund Kunstschaffen im römischen und byzantinischen Tavium, in V. Gaggadis-Robin /A .H ermary /M.R eddé /C.S intès (eds.), Lesa teliers de sculpturer égionaux: Techniques,s tyles et iconographie. Actes du Xe colloque international sur l'art provincial romain, Arles et Aix-en-Provence,  - mai .Aixen-Provence/Arles ,  -. The museum of Yozgat was established in 1985a nd ownsal arge earlyB yzantine collection, most of which consists of funerary inscriptions from Tavium.⁹ The Byzantine sigillographic collection of the museum comprises onlyf our examples: One sole seal of this collection, i. e. no. 4w ith the accessionn o. 1476, was excavated at ÇadırH öyük and thereforep re-published;¹⁰ the others were purchased by al ocal salesman and remain unpublished.
No.1-Basileios Trichinopodes, hypatos and strategoso fA nazarbus Repository and provenance: In the depoto ft he museum of Yozgat,a ccession no. 1549.I tw as brought from the local court of Boğazlıyan in 2008, as mall town between Yozgat and Kayseri, c. 125k ms outheast of Yozgat.I to riginates probablyf rom central Anatolia.
Measurements: Diameter 28 mm, field diameter 24 mm and thickness 4mm. Obv.: Bust of St George,i nt he typical mannera sm ilitary saint in full armaments, with the lance in the right hand, his left hand is hidden behind the shield. The face is beardless and shows the rich curled hair-dress.Onlyt he left part of the inscriptioni sr eadable: Rev.: Lord, help Basileios Trichinopodes,h ypatos and strategos of Anazarbus.
The legend changes from dative to accusative at the end.
Twovery similar seals, one in Dumbarton Oaks¹¹ and another one in the former Fogg Museum of Art (todayHarvardArt Museums), are both damaged at the bottom,¹² misleading the editors to read the surname on the seal as Triklinios.¹³ Furthermore, therei sa nother type of these seals related to this person, known by threee xamples, with onlys mall differences, two from the former Zacos collection, now in Paris,¹⁴ and another one has been offered in auctions.¹⁵ On the obverse as imilar bust of St George,t hough the inscription reads: The inscription on the rev.has also sevenlines, but offers an additional title and ends in nominative: In this casethe titles are protospatharios hypatos,and the theme is written with Sigma instead of Zeta. The letter in front of Trichinopodes looks likea nA lpha that would lead us to produce the name "Atrichinopodes",but this should probablyb eadamaged Omikron as the article ὁ.
The seal originates from the middle of the eleventh century.T he surname Trichinopodes,pointingtohairs on the feet,isvery rare. Asimilar or even identical name seems to appearo nt wo seals from Bulgaria, edited with mistakes.¹⁶ On the obverse ab ust of the Theotokos Blachernitissa (orans, without am edallion of Christ), on the reverse the inscription: The surname reads either Trichipodina or Trichi(no)podina. The seals seem to be al ittle bit younger thano ur type,E leni could have been the daughter of Basileios.
Anazarbus (todayA navarza Kalesi) was an important stronghold in eastern Cilicia; Nikephoros II Phokas conquered it A.D. 962a nd established therea theme with astrategos as the commander.Inthe later eleventh and twelfth century it often changed lords, but was especiallyastronghold of the Armenians in Cilicia.¹⁷ TheM amluk Empire of Egypt finally destroyed the city in 1374.
No.2-Katakalon, hypatos and strategos of Larissa Repository and provenance: In the depoto ft he museum of Yozgat,a ccession no. 1379. It was purchased by Mr Nihat Şahin on June 2, 1997w ith several other metal objects. It originates probablyf rom central Anatolia. Measurements: Diameter 23 mm and field diameter 19 mm. The legend is distributedo nb oth sides of the seal, without anyf igure.
Obv.: Legend on threel ines, preceded by ac ross between horizontal bars, followed by ad ot between horizontal bars: Rev.: Legend on three lines, preceded and followed by adot between horizontal lines: (Seal of)K atakalon, hypatos and strategos of Larissa.
Some letters are pressed, but the readingisclear.K atakalon and Katakalos were first namesa nd family namesi nt he eleventh century;w ei nterpret Katakalon here as undeclined,b ut also Κατακαλῶν(ος)w ould be possible. Thought here was also atown called Larisa in eastern Thessaly,¹⁸ Katakalon was surelystrategoso fL arissai nC appadocia (todayM ancınık) in south-south-east of the theme of Sebasteia.¹⁹ It was first mentioned as seat of as trategos in the Escorial Taktikon in 971-975,²⁰ but was lost in the lastq uarter of the eleventh century.
The seal stems probablyf rom the third quarter of the eleventh century.W e know some seals of military commanders namedK atakalon from the eleventh century,but none is near enough for identification. The nearest example is ametrical seal in Dumbarton Oaks²¹ with the legend: ΣὸνΚ ατακαλὼν ἐκ / κακῶν, σῶτερ, ρύου,onboth sides of the seal, but it is somehow later,i.e.latereleventh or first half of the twelfth century.
An inscription in Egrek/EkekinTao dated to 1006/1007which was in the Byzantine military district of Iberia since 1000,was ordered by Gregorios patrikios, who had been in formert imes strategos of Larissa and of Macedonia; his father Sympates Bechkatzis (Iber)h ad also been patrikios. This inscription documents the earliest known strategos of Larissa.²² No.3-Pirmanes (?), protospatharios and chartoularios of the Bucellarian theme Repository and provenance: In the depoto ft he museum of Yozgat,a ccession no. 1378. It was purchased by Mr Nihat Şahin on June 2, 1997w ith several other metal objects. It originates probablyf rom central Anatolia.
The name is not sure; Pirmanes seems to be apossiblereading, though we could not find another mention of this name. Perhaps it goes backtoaPersian etymological root as some people in the Caucasus usednameswith an Iranian origin.²³ The syllable -κε-in Boukellarion is sometimes -like here -written with the siglum for καί (S). This person, son of Alousianos and grandson of the lastBulgarian tsar Ivan Vladislav( reigned 1015 -1018), is well known, especiallyf rom seals. The earliest type offers the title of bestarches and the highranking command of dux of Edessa; in this case astanding figureofStTheodore of Euchaita (Tyron) occupies the obverse.²⁶ Somel iterary sources inform us that aS amuel Alousianos bestarches,whose sister had been the first wife of Romanos Diogenes (at that time alreadyemperor Romanos IV), had the command of the tagmata of the West in A.D.1069w hich was operating in the East.²⁷ Numerous seals of Samuel Alousianos as proedros and dux came to light,belongingtotwo types. This type of seals has numerous parallels: Three wereinthe formerZ acos collection,²⁸ four are in the collection Theodoridis,²⁹ one from the collection Zarnitz is now in Munich,³⁰ one belongst ot he Fogg collection,³¹ one seal is in Sofia,³² one in the Hermitage,³³ and some others appeared in auctions.³⁴ On as imilar type of the seal the thronos of the Theotokos has ab ack, the obverse has alsoa ni nvocative inscription, and the reverse legend is distributed slightlyd ifferent.S eals of this type are documented in Sofia,³⁵ in Athens,³⁶ in Hanover,³⁷ in the formerZ acos collection and in ap rivatec ollection in Berlin.³⁸ Probablyour type is the later one. It is not possible to date these seals as proedros to the middle of the eleventh century;³⁹ we therefored ate it to the 1070so r earlier 1080s.⁴⁰ Problematic is the nearlycontemporary seal of another Samuel Alousianos, who appears as bestarches kai strategos and shows abust of St John the Baptist (Prodromos) on the obverse.⁴¹ As it would be very unusual that aperson changed the patron of his seals too often, we would prefer to assign this type to anephew of the proedros.