Stephanos, patrikios, and genikos kommerkiarios of the Apotheke of the first and second Cappadocia, under Constans II, circa 659-668. Seal (Lead, 32 mm, 28.65 g, 12 h). +CTЄΦAN૪ ΠAT/PIKI૪ KAI ΓEN/NIK૪ KOMM/EPKIA 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. PI૪ AΠOΘHK/HC KAΠΠAΔ/OKIAC A’ K/AI [B]’ 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 142. A large and impressive seal with four imperial portraits. Good very fine.


'Apothekai' were places where taxes in kind were collected and stored, and which served as centers for trade and 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 of in their Table 1 on p. 145: he is attested in 659-668 as kommerkiarios in the warehouses of Abydos, Helenopontos and…, and in the First and Second Cappadocia.