★ The Roman gentes Marius and Alfius ★

Mariulfus, circa 550-650. Seal (Lead, 25 mm, 8.85 g, 12 h). mA/RIU/LF in three lines, decoration to the left of the last line. Rev. Cruciform monogram of MAPIOVΛΦOV. Unpublished in the standard references. A highly interesting bilingual Byzantine seal mentioning a rare Germanic name. Minor surface cracks, otherwise, good very fine.

From a European collection, formed before 2005.

The name Mariulf is evidently Germanic. It is attested as the name of a moneyer on a Frankish tremissis issue from the Brive mint, in present-day France (Belfort 6059), which dates to the same time period as our seal.