Three Unpublished Byzantine Lead Seals from Western Asia Minor (With an Appendix on an Amulet from Izmir)

Abstract

This paper presents three formerly unpublished Byzantine lead seals and an amulet that were examined in the archaeological museum of Izmir (nos. 1, 3 and figs. 5a–b) and Akhisar (no. 2) in western Turkey. They date from the 7th to the 13th century AD. The seal of a Manuel apo hypaton (no. 1) reveals the relations between the court of Constantinople and the city of Smyrna in the 7th century AD. Another one of Ioannes hypatos spatharios (no. 2) comes from Akhisar (8th century AD). No. 3 is dated to the 11th and 12th centuries AD. A lead amulet at the appendix part (figs. 5a–b), which perhaps originates from the Early Byzantine period, bears the name of Sabaṓth.

Keywords

• byzantine lead seals
• amulet
• apo hypaton
• hypatos and imperial spatharios
• sabaṓth
• sigillography
• byzantine period
• izmir
• akhisar
• western asia minor
• turkey.