Michael Iasites, magistros and doux of Antioch, mid 11th century. Seal (Lead, 32 mm, 24.22 g, 12 h). ...-H[T]/PI/OC Nimbate facing bust of Saint Demetrios, holding a spear over his right shoulder, and resting a shield on his left arm.
Rev. [KЄ R,Θ,] / TⲰ CⲰ Δ, / MIX[A]H[Λ / M]AΓ[IC]TPⲰ / S Δ૪K' ANT/[I]OXHAC T, / [I]ACITH in seven lines. Jordanov, Corpus II, 240. Zacos Sale I (Spink 127), 40. An impressive seal of an important Byzantine general and of great historical interest. Scrapes on obverse and surface roughness
, otherwise, good fine.
From an important collection of Roman and Byzantine seals, tesserae and amulets, formed before 2021.
Michael Iasites was an illustrious Byzantine general in the mid-11th century. As katepano of the Armenian province of Iberia, he led a Byzantine army allied with Armenian forces in an attempt to capture Dvin. However, the Emir of Dvin countered the Byzantine forces by flooding the fields and raining down a barrage of arrows on the attackers. Iasites' highest known rank was doux of Antioch, making him the second most powerful man in the east, after the domestikos of the regiments.
