★ Extremely RARE!!! and Large Lead Seal of Antonios sebastos and parakoimomenos. ★

Antonios sebastos and parakoimomenos (ca 12th/13th cent.)
Diam.: mm Weight: 23.84 gr. Condition: F. Some strikes in both sides, cracked
alongside the channel. Attractive light brown natural patina.
Obverse: Saint George en face, full-size, nimbate, in military garments, bearing spear
and shield, columnar inscription: Ο ΑΓΙΟC/ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟC (Saint George), all within
dotted border.
Reverse: Cross followed by inscription in 5 lines within dotted border: + CΦΡΑΓΙC/
CΕΒΑCΤΟΥ ΚΕ ΠΑΡΑ/ ΚΟΙΜΩΜΕΝΟ(Υ) Τ[Ω]/ [...] ΟΜΟΔΙΤΩ/ [ΑΝ]ΤΩΝΙΩ =
Σφραγὶς σεβαστοῦ καὶ παρακοιμωμένου τῷ ... ὁμοδίτῳ Ἀντωνίῳ (+ The seal of
sebastos and parakoimomenos and who is dressed similarly Antonios).
It is notable that the inscription on reverse consists of two twelve-syllable metric
iambic verses.
Sebastos (Greek: σεβαστός, "venerable one", plural σεβαστοί, sebastoi) was an
honorific used by the ancient Greeks to render the Roman imperial title of Augustus.
The female form of the title was sebastē (σεβαστή). From the late 11th century on,
during the Komnenian period, it and variants derived from it, like sebastokrator,
protosebastos, panhypersebastos, and sebastohypertatos, formed the basis of a new
system of court titles for the Byzantine Empire. The parakoimōmenos (Greek:
παρακοιμώμενος, literally "the one who sleeps beside [the emperor's chamber]") was a
Byzantine court position, usually reserved for eunuchs. The position's proximity to the
emperors guaranteed its holders influence and power, and many of them, especially in
the 9th and 10th centuries, functioned as the Byzantine Empire's chief ministers. The
title was used anachronistically by various Byzantine writers for prominent eunuch
court officials all the way back to Euphratas under Constantine the Great (reigned
306–337), the notorious Chrysaphius under Theodosius II (r. 408–450), or an unnamed
holder under Emperor Maurice (r. 582–602). However, it was most probably created
only later in the 7th century, and is first attested securely only under Leo IV the
Khazar (r. 775–780), when the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor records the
existence of a "koubikoularios and parakoimomenos". In the beginning, it was a
modest office, given to those koubikoularioi (from Latin cubicularius, denoting the
eunuch servants of the emperor's "sacred bedchamber" or sacrum cubiculum) who
were tasked with sleeping outside the emperor's chamber during the night as a security
measure. As evidenced by seals from the 7th and 8th centuries, it was usually
combined with other palace functions, such as the epi tēs trapezēs, and its holders held
lowly dignities such as ostiarios. It is possible that in the cases where several coemperors reigned at the same time, a parakoimōmenos would be assigned to each.
From the mid-9th century, however, the office grew in importance, outstripping its
nominal superior, the praipositos, until it came to be regarded as the highest post
reserved for eunuchs, with its holders raised to the dignity of patrikios. Over the next
two centuries, many of its holders were able to use their proximity to the imperial
person to exercise considerable political influence. Some of these men, exceptionally,
were not eunuchs. During the reigns of weak or uninterested emperors, holders of the
title parakoimōmenos, such as Samonas, Joseph Bringas and Basil Lekapenos,
functioned as chief ministers, while Basil the Macedonian (r. 867–886) was able to use
this position to eventually usurp the throne from Michael III (r. 842–867). By the 11th
century, the parakoimōmenos had assumed most of the old administrative functions of
the praipositos as well. The post continued to be important in the 11th century, but
seems to have declined in the 12th, when it also began to be regularly awarded—
possibly as a noble title rather than an active function—to non-eunuchs as well. The
post survived in the Empire of Nicaea (1204–1261) and into the Palaiologan period,
where it was divided in two: the parakoimōmenos tēs sphendonēs (παρακοιμώμενος
τῆς σφενδόνης) and the parakoimōmenos tou koitōnos (παρακοιμώμενος τοῦ
κοιτῶνος). The parakoimōmenos tou koitōnos retained the duties of supervising the
koitōn (the imperial bedchamber), assisted by the prokathēmenos tou koitōnos
(προκαθήμενος τοῡ κοιτῶνος) and commanding the chamberlains (κοιτωνάριοι,
koitōnarioi) and pages (παιδόπουλοι, paidopouloi), while the parakoimōmenos tēs
sphendonēs who was entrusted with keeping the sphendonē, the ring with the
emperor's personal seal, used to seal his private correspondence to his family. In the
absence of the prōtostratōr, they were also charged with carrying the emperor's sword.
At the same time, their holders ceased to be palace eunuchs, but were important
noblemen and administrators; by the 14th century, the title of parakoimōmenos
became essentially an honorific dignity.

Bibliography: Guilland, Rodolphe (1967). "Le Parakimomène". Recherches sur les
institutions byzantines, Tome I (in French). Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. pp. 202–215.
Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford and
New York, Oxford University Press.

Condition: Very Fine

Weight: 23.83gr
Diameter: 32.1mm
.
From a Private Dutch, Collection.