Byzantine Lead Seal of Constantine, Notarios and Abydikos from Bulgaria

Abstract

Introduction. The paper deals with a byzantine lead seal of Constantine, notarios and abydikos, which originated from the vicinity of the medieval fortress of Rusokastro, southeastern Bulgaria. Methods. A part of byzantine lead seals are a primary source of information regarding both the commercial and economic activity in the Byzantine Empire and the administrative structures and mechanisms for its control and management, in particular for the period of the 8th – 9 th centuries. Therefore, the appearance of any such new scrambling monument is of great importance and the information derived from it should be carefully analyzed and appropriately taken into account in any reconstruction of the picture of the socio-economic life of the Empire and its contacts with its neighbors, including the medieval Bulgaria. Analysis. The seal dates from the second half of the 8th – the first half of the 9th cc. A cross-shaped invocative monogram is depicted on its obverse, while there is an inscription in four lines placed in a partly preserved circle on the reverse. The whole text of the monogram and the legend is as follows: “+ Κύριε βοήθει τῷ σῷ δούλω Κωνσταντίνω νοταρίου καὶ ἀβυδηκοῦ +”. The article also focuses on retrieving possible information from the Byzantine lead seal published in it. Results. The Byzantine lead seal published here is a material proof related to the picture of the commercial and economic life in the area of the Byzantine Empire near the medieval Bulgarian state and its administration by the Byzantine provincial authorities. Finding it in the territory that for the most of this period was a part of the First Bulgarian Empire suggests that Constantine’s seal is undoubtedly a testimony of the nature of peacetime contacts between Byzantium and Bulgaria at that time.