Nilgün Elam, Anadolu University

Christos Malatras, Sorbonne University

Byzantine lead seals (bullae) are considered a significant type of historical evidence, because they provide new information about Byzantine history, prosopography, administration, as well as culture. In fact, the possibility to complete the missing administrative and ecclesiastical personnel lists of Byzantine Anatolia, through the examination of the seals belonging to the members of different ranks of administrative hierarchy, suffices to underline the importance of this discipline. By using new data offered by lead seals, the historian is able to start filling the gap left by written sources and conciliar register lists, which do not cover all the periods of Byzantine history. The majority of the sigillographic material in Turkey (except for Istanbul Archaeological Museums and a small number of provincial museums) remains unpublished to this day. Among these, one museums stand out with the unique pieces in its collection. Yalvaç (Antiochia in Pisidia) Archaeological Museum comprises 57 unpublished Byzantine lead seals (μολυβδόβουλλα) acquired in 1969-2009. Except for two bullae, which originated from the excavations in Antiochia, their provenance is unknown. The collection also holds eleven seals which belong to Michael VII Doukas (1071–1078); Empress Theodora (midst of 11th c.); Bēsēr, patrikios and stratēgos (720-741), Artavasdos patrikios and kouropalatēs (first half of the 8th c.) (before 741); Nikēphoros Melissēnos, magistros, vestarchēs, katepanos and judge of Cyprus (1067-1078); Theophylaktos, spatharokandidatos and epi tēs Megales Hetaireias (2nd half of 10th c.); Georgios, protospatharios epi tou Chrysotriklinou, judge of Hippodrome of Antiocheia (midst of 11th c.); Goudeles anagrapheus (11th-12th c.); N. Goulas, protospatharios epi tou chrysotriklinou (and) aksearches of Dipotamos (11th c.); Konstantinos Opos (late 11th c.-early 12th c.) and Leon Makedonios, basilikos protospatharios (11th c.) This paper aims to present these seals from Yalvac Museum and discuss their contribution to the history of Byzantine state.