Abstract:

This article tries to determine the place and identity of the owner of a metal stamp located in the Bursa Archaeological Museum collection in the Byzantine stamping objects typology. The stamp that we consider in this article is one of the rare examples, in which the inscription specifies the name of the owner as well as the offices and titles he held. The owner of the stamp, dated to approximately 9th –10th centuries, is Iohannes, the imperial protospatharios and epi ton oikeiakon. It is understood from the title protospatharios that Iohannes was a member of the central government and a wealthy aristocrat. The title epi ton oikeiakon, appearing together with Iohannes, may be a title that shows that he is a more privileged individual than other officials and that he may be from the imperial court. On the other hand, we also know of an administrative task under the sekreton of oikeiakon since the last quarter of the 10th century. In light of this, we have the following question: did Iohannes use his stamp for his personal affairs or did he use it in accordance with his responsibilities, which were part of his administrative position of management of imperial properties? In either case, we think that his stamp was stamped on a soft object such as clay and that it may be a brick stamp.