The warehouse (apotheke) of the imperial kommerkiarion of Bithynia, dated indiction 9 and 10, 695-697. Seal (Lead, 29 mm, 18.30 g, 12 h). [Indiction symbol] - I / Θ Leontius standing facing, wearing crown, divisiton and chlamys, holding globus cruciger in his right hand. Rev. AΠOΘ[H]/KHC TⲰ[N] / BACIΛIK[Ⲱ]/N KOMЄP’ [T]/ⲰN BIΘ… in five or six lines. Unpublished in the standard references. Cf. Zacos/Veglery 193 (same double dating, but the warehouse of Helenopontos). An intriguing seal with a beautiful depiction of the short-reigned emperor Leontius (695-698). Struck on a small blank, otherwise, good very fine.



'Apothekai' were places where taxes in kind were collected and stored, and which served as centers for the trade and exchange of goods. They were headed by kommerkiarioi, who were assigned to their lucrative position for a fixed period of time. Zacos and Veglery publish a seal of the kommerkiarion of Helenopontos, bearing the same figure of Leontius and dated to the same two indictions. They propose a reading of Georgios, apo hypaton on its obverse. However, as noted in its subsequent edition in the Dumbarton Oaks catalogue, there is no visible trace of an obverse legend, and the seal is more likely anonymous. Evidently, our seal is also anonymous, identifying just the warehouse, not an individual kommerkiarios.