Robert Mihaj lovski Three Byzantine Lead Seals from Devolgrad (Ancient Audaristos) near Stobi Three Byzantine lead seals were found in the grazing lands and vineyards at Devolgrad, thirteen kilometres west of Stobi, in the district of Kavadarci (Republic of Macedonia). [Fig. 101] In 2001 they became part of a private collection. 1 They are not unique nor are they important in themselves. But they do have significance in that they are among a relatively small group of seals which can be related toa particular place. Devolgrad, also known as Diabolis, was a fortress which had been occupied successively in prehistorie, Paeonian, Macedonian, Roman and Byzantine times. Located on the massive limestone rock at the entrance of the gorge of the river Raec near the village of Drenovo, it controlled the road communication between Stobi and Heraclea Lyncestis on the junction of the Via Egnatia [Fig. 102], as welt as being on an ancient route connecting the Pelagonia valley with the corridor of the Vardar-Morava-Danube river system. During Roman times it was an important strategie and military post and was perhaps a fortress-refugium for the population of Stobi and its environs, as retlected in another of its names, Stypeion. Later it played an important role in the military campaigns of Emperor Basil Il in 10142 and throughout the Komnenian and Palaiologan periods. Between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries the area became an object of incessant strife between the lords of Nicaea, Epirus and Thessalonica, including the Crusader, Bulgarian and Serbian invasions. lt is thus not surprising that the first lead seal is connected with the name of the sebastos George Palaiologos, a notable military commander and a great supporter (and brother-in-law) of the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. The seal is not welt preserved and some significant fragments around the edges are missing. In its present state it has a diameter of 1.9 cm and weight of 4.70 gm [Fig. 103]. On the obverse there is a bust of the Holy Virgin Orans with a medallion of Christ in front of her (Blachernitissa) with the sigla MP 0 Y (mother of God) to either side. There is a border of dots around the image. Along the circumference there are traces of a circular inscription: 0(rnTo )KE ~o( T]0E)L f'Hu(pyLw). On the 1. The Marjan Malbasié collection from Bitola. I am vel)' grateful to Mr Marjan Malbasié for his kind permission to publish the seals: R. Mih~jlovski, 'Three Byzantine seals from Devol-Grad (ancient Eudaristos), near Drenovo, Kavadarci, Republic of Macedonia' 20 CEB [Paris 200 I] Pré-actes 239; K. Adzievski, 'Stipion (Stupion) nee Stip' Godisen zbornik, Filozoftki Fakultet Skopje 14.40 ( 1987) 81-93; S. Antoljak, Samuel and his State (Skopje 1985) I 16, 193 n. 943. 2. According to V .N. Zlatarski. /storija na Bülgarskata dürihava (3 vols Sofia 1918- 40, rp. 1971-2) 1:756-7: 'In 1015 Theodore the Kaukhan brother of Dometa was killed in Stypion or Stob (ITouTiiov), known before as Diavolis (61á~oÀtS-)'. See T. Tomoski, 'Zapisi za srednovekovniot Devol' Makedonija niz Vekovite: Gradovi, Tvrdini, Komunikacii (Skopje 1999) 398-418; S. Pirivatrié, Samoui/ova driava obim i karakter (Belgrade 1997) 125 n.167. Byzantine Narrative. Papers in Honour of Roger Scott. Edited by J. Burke et al. (Melbourne 2006). Three Byzantine lead Sealsfrom Devolgrad near Stobi 523 reverse there is an inscription in four lines: CTE(~)/aanu / (T)w IIaÀm/oÀoyw surrounded by border of dots. 3 The whole text can be translated as 'Mother of God, protect George sebastos Palaiologos'. George Palaiologos, bom around 1057, was the son of Nikephoros Palaiologos, a genera! and governor of Mesopotamia during the reign of Michael VII. He is prominent in Anna Komnene's Alexiad, being Anna's uncle by marriage. lndeed Anna credits conversations on military matters between him and her father, at which she was present, as being a major source for her work (Alexiad 14.7). Anna presents him as playing an important role both in her father's revolt, which brought him to the throne, and in subsequent military campaigns. According to Anna, he was sent to defend the fortress of Dyrrachion against the Normans of Robert Bohemond in 1081 (Alexiad 3.9) and later he was active in various campaigns such as the siege of Kastoria in 1083 (Alexiad 6.1), against the Pechenegs in 1087 and 1091 (Alexiad 7.2--4, 8.2-5), and in 1094 he defended the city of Berroia in Thrace when it was attacked by Cumans (Alexiad 10.2). After 1094 he held the title of sebastos. He was also active in civic life, being for instance a patron of Theophylact, Archbishop of Ohrid, who refers to him as pansebastos sebastos. George Palaiologos may have been one the founders of the monastery of St Demetrios of the Palaiologans in Constantinople and sponsor of a monastery close to Triaditza/Sofia. A sebastos G. Palaiologos was commemorated in the typikon of the Monastery of the Pantokrator in 1136. He <lied in the first years of the reign of John II Komnenos. 4 As one might expect, there are numerous seals of George Palaiologos. Most bear images of St Nicholas, St George or the Theotokos, 5 with just one being decorated with the bust ofSt Demetrios. Our lead seal was made soon after he was given the title of sebastos6 in the Blachernae palace at Constantinople in 1094, a dignity which he kept to the end of his life. The next year he was organizing the defence of the town of Berroia (now Stara Zagora in Bulgaria) in Thrace, which was attacked by the Cumans, and so he sent a letter with military instructions to the co mm ander of the regional post of Devolgrad in an attempt to organize logistic support for his campaign at Berroia. 7 The seal most probably was used to stamp a document drawn up for the organization of the army, including some recruitment from the area of Devolgrad/Stypeion. 3. 1. Jordanov, ·lJnpublished Byzantine Seals from the Village of Zlati Voyvod' SBS 3 (1993) 72. 4. J.-C. Cheynet & J.-F. Vannier, Études prosopographiques. Byzantina Sorbonensia 5 (Paris 1986) 140; M. Mullett, Theophylact of Ochrid: Reading the letters of a By::antine Archbishop (Aldershot 1997) 96, 188, 212. 5. J. Nesbitt & N. Oikonomides, Catalogue of By::antine Sea/s at Dumbarton Oaks and the Fogg Museum of Art (3 vols Washington 1991) 1:41. 6. Sebastos (venerable) was a popular title in the eleventh century as an honorific epithet. The term becomes the foundation of Alexios l's reform of titles and it was conferred on the nobility and the relatives of the Komnenian dynasty. The title sebastos served as the root for the highest titles: sebastokrator, panhypersebastos and protosebastos. See 'Sebastos' ODB 3: 1862-3. 7. Jordanov, 'Zlati Voyvod' 72-3 nos. 3--4. .