6.36 FC – Recent Research in Byzantine Sigillography

Besides dealing with Byzantine lead seals and “marking” in Byzantium, the studies presented here deal with materials and areas of study that are generally considered “peripheral”, both in a geographical sense and from the point of view of the discipline of sigillography. Starting with the analysis of three seals belonging to the χαρτουλάριοι τοῦ σιτωνικοῦ of Carthage, Giuliodoro’s contribution reconsiders the presence and activities of the urban administration of the North African metropolis under Byzantine rule (sixth-seventh centuries), highlighting the role of local notables in controlling the still-active civic magistracies and their contribution to the management of the city. Evening will shed new light on the office of the σύμπονος in the eleventh century. The σύμπονος held a prominent position under the eparch in this period and by examining a corpus of some 65 seals this paper aims to offer the first comprehensive overview of the role and significance of this office within a wider administrative landscape. Pomero will present the seal collection of the National Museum of Ravenna, which traces its origins in the antiquities collected by the Camaldolese monks of Classe during the eighteenth century. Among these seals, most of which have not been published, is a small but significant group of Byzantine specimens, dating from around the late sixth to the early thirteenth centuries. Finally, Orlandi will present the results of the Horizon MSCA SIGN-IT project, dedicated to the study of the signacula, i.e., stamps bearing text and graphic signs, used from the Roman to the Byzantine period. The paper will focus on dating criteria for the Post-Roman specimens, and on the morphological and functional evolution of these objects between Rome and Byzantium.