''Apographeus'' ( el, ἀπογραφεύς) was a fiscal official in the last centuries of the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...
.
The office first appears in the
Komnenian period
The Byzantine Empire was ruled by emperors of the Komnenos dynasty for a period of 104 years, from 1081 to about 1185. The ''Komnenian'' (also spelled ''Comnenian'') period comprises the reigns of five emperors, Alexios I, John II, Manuel I, A ...
, either under
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...
() or at any rate by the third quarter of the 12th century, and apparently replaced the ''
anagrapheus''. The office continued in existence until the
end of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. The ''apographeus'' was in charge of the land survey (''apographē'') that served as the basis for the tax assessment owed by individuals, as well for the purpose of redivision of lands (''merismos'') and the assessment of imperial grants of revenue (''posotēs'') of an estate to ''
pronoia'' holders or to establishments such as monasteries and other pious foundations. The post of ''apographeus'' was often held in tandem by the governor (''
doux'', ''
kephalē'') of a province.
References
Sources
* {{cite encyclopedia , last=Kazhdan , first=Alexander , author-link=Alexander Kazhdan , title = Apographeus , page=134 , editor-last=Kazhdan , editor-first=Alexander , editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan , encyclopedia=
The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium , year=1991 , location=New York and Oxford , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=978-0-19-504652-6
Byzantine fiscal offices
Taxation in the Byzantine Empire