The toponym ‘Arkion’ appears on several seals from the 11th century. A Christodoulos was protospatharios chartoularios and episketites τοῦ Ἀρκίου; an Ardabasdos was protospatharios of the manglabion and topoteretes τοῦ Ἀρκί(ου); an Asotas was horreiarios of Kios or Ἀρκίου; and a Michael was also horreiarios of Kios or Ἀρκήου (in the two last examples we assume a haplography of the letters Alpha and Rho). The author dismisses an identification with Arka, south-southwest of Melitene, a well-known bishopric in the metropolis of Melitene, as this name is always found as feminine, but prefers an identification with the Armenian district of Hark or Hark‘ in the region of Turuberan, on both sides of the Murat river, north of Tarōn. In the De administrando imperio this region is called τὸ Χάρκα.

Early Byzantine seals attest a number of civil officials of the province of Lydia, only sometimes in connection with other (neighbouring) provinces. We know two archontes, Thalassios (with the title of Stratelates, early eighth century) and Maurianos (early eighth century), and two Dioiketai, Theodoros (later eighth century) and Michael (first third nineth century). There is still more information about Kommerkiarioi: Ioulianos ἀπὸ ὑπάτων was γενικὸς κομμερκιάριος Λυδίας in 687/688, Kyriakos ἀπὸ ὑπάτων was γενικὸς λογοθέτης ἀποθήκης Καπατιανῆς καὶ Λυδίας in 696/697, Ioannes ὕπατος was γενικὸς κομμερκιάριος ἀποθήκης Ἑλλησπόντου καὶ Λυδίας in 721/722, Theophanes πατρίκιος β. πρωτοσπαθάριος was γενικὸς λογοθέτης καὶ κομμερκιάριος ἀποθήκης Ἑλλησπόντου καὶ Λυδίας in 727/728, and Theoktistos ὕπατος was also γενικὸς κομμερκιάριος ἀποθήκης Ἑλλησπόντου καὶ Λυδίας in 729/730. Immediately afterwards not single Kommerkiarioi but the office of the imperial Kommerkia sealed, still using imperial busts. We know such seals of the imperial Kommerkia of Lydia for the year 731/732, of Bithynia, (Phrygia) Saloutaris, (Phrygia) Pakatiane, and Lydia for the year 733/734, and again of Lydia (alone) for the year 736/737. In an addendum a further lead seal is mentioned, with a bust in profile to the left and the inscription ΛVΔ/IAC, dating from late antiquity.

This article presents twelve lead seals from the Museum of Bergama (ancient Pergamon), dating from the late sixth to the early eighth century. We offer a descriptive catalogue of these early Byzantine seals preserved in a western Turkish museum. In the introduction, seals excavated in Pergamon as well as seals referring to Pergamon are briefly discussed. The owners of the twelve seals in the museum were primarily ecclesiastical or legal dignitaries who were probably active in Pergamon, in southwestern Mysia, in Aeolis or in Lydia.

Vor einigen Jahren gelang es der kroatischen Polizei, einenSchmuggeltransport kleinformatiger Antiquitäten zu stoppen,worauf die Objekte dem Archäologischen Museum Zagreb zurfachmännischen Aufbewahrung überantwortet wurden. Da dieObjekte möglicherweise aus der Türkei stammen, wurden sieEnde 2021 der türkischen Botschaft in Kroatien übergeben, umins Museum für anatolische Zivilisationen überstellt zu werden.Dazu zählt auch eine interessante Sammlung byzantinischerBleisiegel, die im Folgenden publiziert wird. Hier finden sich dreiKaisersiegel des 7. Jahrhunderts (bekannte Typen), sechs Siegelvon Militärkommandanten des späten 7. bis späten 11. Jahrhunderts(darunter Strategen der Bukellarier und der Thrakesier,sowie die Typen eines Strategen namens Apokarpis und des Tautukas,proedros und katepano von Samosata), acht Bullen vonzivilen Beamten (darunter ein kommerkiarios von Armenia II ausder Zeit 659 – ca. 667, Richter von Seleukeia und Tarsos sowie derArmenika Themata, und ein neuer Typus des Basileios parakoimomenosaus dem späteren 11. Jahrhundert). Bei den Siegeln mitRangtiteln wäre das des Theodoros Rupenes protonobellisimosbesonders hervorzuheben, auch der Beiname Palduinos ist rechtinteressant. Vielleicht wäre ein Monogrammsiegel einer Damenamens Olympias zuzuweisen. An kirchlichen Sieglern findensich ein (lateinischer) Patriarch von Antiocheia, ein Metropolitvon Tarsos und ein Bischof von Stratonikeia. Zeitlich liegenSchwerpunkte im 7. und im 11. Jahrhundert.

The Collection of Tunay Demran, officially registered in the Manisa Archaeological Museum, contains seven seals, six of lead and one of silver, and one blank. Manisa, the Byzantine Magnesia Anelios on Mount Sipylos, with its fertile lowland and strategic location in Western Anatolia, has been home to different civilizations over the centuries, including the Lydian Kingdom, one of the most important ancient civilizations. In the 13th century, it became one of the more important cities of the Nicene Empire (established after the Latin invasion in 1204) and the seat of Ioannes III Doukas Vatatzes, who located an actively working mint there. Later on, the city and its environs came under the rule of the Beylik of Saruhan and the Ottoman Empire. There is a rich archaeological record of civil and religious architecture in Manisa and its surroundings, still awaiting full investigation. The article presents Demran’s collection of seals and explores potential ties with the archaeological remains of historical Magnesia.

Concerning the first "Christian" century of the Rus' and its relations to the Byzantine Empire in this time, the literary sources are not helpful enough, leading to quite problematic interpretations. Byzantium had its own experience with the peoples of Eastern Europe since the first Rus'ian governments in the ninth century and had learned to highly esteem especially the military strength of Scandinavian soldiers active there. In 988, the army from the Rus' won a victory over Kalokyros Delphinas, a deputy commander of Phokas, after a surprising attack near the capital, and on 13 April 989, Bardas Phokas was beaten by a stroke, even before the decisive battle had started. Scholars who believe in a cordial alliance between Vladimir and the emperors that started in 987 wonder about the sudden attack by Vladimir on the Crimea, conquering the Byzantine center of Cherson in 989.

This short essay presents seven Byzantine lead seals, all of which originate from the local museum in Ödemiş in the province of Izmir in western Turkey. Almost all of them came as acquisition to Ödemiş by local antique dealers. All the pieces have been treated and interpreted here sigillographically for the first time. This small collection of seals is important regarding the administration of the theme of Thrakesion, especially about the offices of the seal owners, and the society of Cayster valley during the Byzantine period.

Abstract 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.

This article addresses the unique position of kyr Chersonos. Although appropriate seals (four variants) were published recently, the scholarship did not create yet a single interpretation of their reading and chronology, and the functions of the owners. This article supplies new readings and datings of these seals, suggesting to reconstruct the name of the office as The name of one seal-owner could be Zopakes, perhaps indicating his Alanic origin. The chronology of all the seals of the type is within 840-860/880 AD. The position of kyr Chersonos indicated exceptional relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Crimea. The town of Cherson playing a dominant role in Byzantine-Crimean relations kept a better organized municipal tradition than in other parts of the Empire. The positions of kyr Chersonos appeared after the establishment of the new Byzantine thema on the Crimea (841 AD). Perhaps he had the command of local forces, similar like a merarches or tourmarches in other themata. Such an army was of special importance on the Crimea, because the emperor did not want to send a strong army there from other themata and he did not want to stress the relations with the neighbouring Turkic tribes too much. When the situation became normalized in a few decades, there was not any more a necessity to promote kyroi of Cherson. Probably the less ambitious proteuon became their successor, but without military duties, eventually with a kind of police supervision.

Recently an exciting new seal of a Niketas Nobellisimos and Komes of the Opsikion with a bust of the Theotokos on the obverse appeared at the Lanz auction. At first glance it stems from the 8th century, but the only Niketas Nobellisimos documented in the sources for this century, the third son of the Emperor Constantine V and Eudokia, had to be excluded a priori, because he was separated from power at the age of 10 years and became a cleric. Apparently the Niketas of this seal was the eldest son of the usurper / emperor Artabasdos. As there is another slightly older seal of this Niketas, yet with the invocative monogram on the obverse, the bulloterion of the seal above was cut in 742 A.D. On the other hand, this bull proves a certain affinity of Artabasdos’ family with the “ikonodouloi”.

Nikolaos Zounaras / Zonaras served at the end of the eleventh century in the capacity of judge of the united themata of Thrake and Makedonia. There exist five of his seals found in the Byzantine territory to guarantee the exact transcription of his seal's legend. He was, from 1088 onward, protovestarches and grand chartoularios and later became droungarios tes viglas in the first quarter of the twelfth century. It was an extraordinary surprise to find extant (up to this point) some 15 (sic!) seal fragments of this seal type in the Old Rus', especially in the knjazestvo of Chernigov / Chernihiv. The authors propose that Nikolaos was officially sent there by the Byzantine emperor to assist a fair division of Chernigov between the two brothers David and Oleg-Michael according to the agreement of the council of Liubech (1097). Zounaras's activity throws new light on the Byzantine Rus'ian relations during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos.

The "cesarica gr'kyna", who married Vsevolod Jaroslavic and became mother of Volodimer/Volodymyr "Monomach" in 1053, was not a daughter but a relative of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos; her Christian name remains unknown. The often erroneously published seals type of a Maria epsilon upsilon gamma epsilon nu epsilon sigma tau alpha tau eta alpha sigma chi omicron nu tau iota sigma sigma alpha found on different places of the Rus', does not mention the name Monomachaina but simply mu omicron nu alpha chi eta, "nun" as a new unpublished exemplar in the collection O. Sheremtiev clearly proves; it is impossible to attribute it to Monomachaina. It probably belonged to Maria Dobronega, a daughter of Volodimer Svjatoslavic, who became the wife of Duke Casimir of Poland. Casimir passed away in 1058, but his widow Dobronega lived until 1087, returned to Rus', used the mentioned seal and apparently played an important role in the society.