doiSerbia

The Byzantine titles of Jovan Oliver: A contribution to the issues of their origin and chronology

Pirivatrić Srđan (Institute for Byzantine Studies of the SASA, Belgrade)

The inscription by the portrait of Jovan Oliver, the founder, in the main church of monastery Lesnovo, contains the earliest data on high Byzantine court dignities he held. The founder is portrayed invested as a sebastokrator, the inscription is written over an older one which it partially repeats and gives the information on the two Byzantine titles of Jovan Oliver: in the first part of the inscription there is reference on his title of sebastokrator “in Serbs”, while in the second part he is mentioned with the title of despotes “of all Serbian and maritime regions and učestnik (sc. particeps) of Greeks”. In the inscription both of the dignities are connected with the king Stefan Dušan. The analysis of the data of the founder’s inscription, when put into the context of the civil war that lasted in Byzantium from 1341 to 1347, enables the conclusions on the exact Byzantine origin of his titles and approximate chronology of his investment. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177032: Tradicija, inovacija i identitet u vizantijskom svetu

Keywords: Jovan Oliver, sebastokrator, despotes, Stefan Dušan, učestnik (sc.particeps) of Greeks, John Kantakouzenos, Anne Paleologos