★ The important eunuch Andreas koubikoularios ★

Andreas, koubikoularios, 659-668. Seal (Lead, 23 mm, 11.69 g, 7 h). Andreas riding on horseback to right, head facing, holding a roll in cylindrical receptacle in his right hand. Rev. Cruciform monogram of ANΔPEOV; in the four angles, CЧ-bI/CЧL-a/rS. Stepanova, Latinskie, 143. Seibt/Zarnitz 4.3.11. Hecht 6. A rare variety of an interesting and important type. Some marks and roughness, otherwise, good very fine.

Andreas koubikoularios is well known known from written sources: he was a powerful eunuch and courtier of the emperor Constantine IV (cf. PmbZ 353) and had some legendary stories attached to his name. Theophanes (cf. 348-351), for example, tells the story of Andreas travelling as an imperial emissary to the court of the Umayyad Caliph Muawiyah I, where he met a stratelates named Sergios, who was the emissary of the usurper Saborios. While both agents advocate for the legitimacy of their master's causes in an attempt to win the Caliph’s support, Sergios publicly scorns Andreas for being an eunuch. Shortly after the meeting, Andreas succeeds in capturing the sneerer and takes ferocious revenge by tying him to a pole and having his genitals cut off. On the other hand, Andreas was also a successful general, as is known to have captured the important fortress of Amorion from the Arabs in the winter 668-69, killing a defence force of 5000.

Several identifications have been offered for the obverse figure and the object he is holding, with the interpretation offered by the editors of the Hecht catalogue perhaps being the most persuasive: they identify the rider as Andreas koubikoularios himself, in the guise of imperial mandator or messenger, holding in his hand the imperial message in the form of a roll inside a cylindrical receptacle.