Stephanos, patrikios and kommerkiarios of the warehouse of Sicily (?), under Constans II, circa 659-668. Seal (Lead, 35 mm, 31.20 g, 12 h). +CTЄΦAN૪ / ΠATPIKI૪ / KAI KOM Facing busts of Constans II, with long beard, on the left, and Constantine IV, on the right, both wearing crown and chlamys and holding globus cruciger in their right hands. Rev. ЄPKIAPI૪ A/ΠOΘHKHC C/IKЄΛIAC (?) Facing busts of Heraclius, on the left, and Tiberius, on the right, both wearing crown and chlamys and holding globus cruciger in their right hands. Zacos/Veglery 140 (last line of the reverse illegible). An impressive seal with four imperial portraits. Somewhat rough, otherwise, very fine.

Apothekai' were places where taxes in kind were collected and stored, and which served as centers for trade and the exchange of goods. They were headed by kommerkiarioi, who were assigned to their lucrative position for a fixed period of time (usually one year), and who were the only officials entitled to use imperial portraits on their seals apart from the emperor himself. Zacos/Veglery have summarized Stephanos' career in their Table 1 on p. 145: he is attested in 659-668 as a kommerkiarios in the warehouses of Abydos, Helenopontos and…, and in the First and Second Cappadocia