Niketas, meizoteros, later 8th-9th century. Seal (Lead, 24 mm, 12.36 g, 12 h). Cruciform monogram ΘЄOTOKЄ BOHΘЄI; in quadrants, TⲰ - CⲰ / Δ૪-ΛⲰ ("Mother of God, help your servant"). Rev. +NIKH/TA MIZⲰ/TЄPⲰ in three lines. Zacos/Veglery 2246. Very fine.



The office of meizoteros is associated with the ergodosia (Oikonomides, Listes de préséance, p. 317), the workshops where silk fabrics and imperial purple were produced. The meizoteros appears to have been a foreman in one of these workshops. A seal in the Zacos collection (Zacos II 489) names an 11th-century meizoteros in charge of gold embroidery (meizoteros tou Chrysoklabariou).