The (, the Hellenized form of ) was a high-ranking court position of the middle

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

History and functions

J. B. Bury John Bagnell Bury (; 16 October 1861 – 1 June 1927) was an Anglo-Irish historian, classical scholar, Medieval Roman historian and philologist. He objected to the label " Byzantinist" explicitly in the preface to the 1889 edition of his ''La ...

assumed that the post was created either under

Leo VI the Wise Leo VI, also known as Leo the Wise (; 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his parentage is unclear), he was very well read, leading to his epithet. During ...

() or his father

Basil I the Macedonian Basil I, nicknamed "the Macedonian" (; 811 – 29 August 886), was List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperor from 867 to 886. Born to a peasant family in Macedonia (theme), Macedonia, he rose to prominence in the imperial court after gainin ...

(), but

Nicolas Oikonomides Nikolaos or Nikos Oikonomides (, 14 February 1934 – 31 May 2000) was a Greeks, Greek Byzantinist, and one of the leading experts in the field of Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy, Byzantine administration. Biography Oikonomides was born i ...

restored it in the text of the ''

Taktikon Uspensky The ''Taktikon Uspensky'' or ''Uspenskij'' is the conventional name of a mid-9th century Greek list of the civil, military and ecclesiastical offices of the Byzantine Empire and their precedence at the imperial court. Nicolas Oikonomides Nikolao ...

'' of . The title is also found in seals of the 7th and 8th centuries, but with a different sense; thus a " of

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

" was the administrator of the local estates of the

See of Rome See or SEE may refer to: * Visual perception Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Televisio ...

in Calabria. The ''

Kletorologion The ''Klētorologion'' of Philotheos () is the longest and most important of the Byzantine lists of offices and court precedence ('' Taktika'').. It was published in September 899 during the reign of Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912) by the ot ...

'' of 899 includes the among the 'special dignities' (). The exact functions of the office are not clear, but, as J. B. Bury wrote, they probably "consisted in exercising some authority over the Imperial household". Earlier authors suggested that the title was related, or even identical, to the later title of , but the theory was rejected by

Rodolphe Guilland Rodolphe Joseph Guilland (5 March 1888 – 5 October 1981) was a French Byzantinist. Life Born in 1888, he completed his thesis on Nicephorus Gregoras (a biography in 1926, and his edited correspondence in 1927), and succeeded his teacher Charles ...

. His ceremony of appointment is recorded in

Constantine VII Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, an ...

's ''

De Ceremoniis The or (fully ) is the conventional Latin name for a Greek book of ceremonial protocol at the court of the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople. Its Greek title is often cited as ("Explanation of the Order of the Palace"), taken from the work' ...

''. The reports of the ambassador to the Byzantine court

Liutprand of Cremona Liutprand, also Liudprand, Liuprand, Lioutio, Liucius, Liuzo, and Lioutsios ( – 972),"LIUTPRAND OF CREMONA" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'', Oxford University Press, New York & Oxford, 1991, p. 1241. was a historian, diplomat, and t ...

show the as playing an important role in court ceremonies under Constantine VII. The post could be held by court

eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...

s as well as clerics, even priests, but was also often combined with other high offices, such as or . In the lists of precedence to the imperial banquets of the 9th–10th centuries he occupied a very prominent place, coming right after the and before the and the . The title disappears from the sources after the reign of

Constantine IX Monomachos Constantine IX Monomachos (; 980/ 1000 – 11 January 1055) reigned as Byzantine emperor from June 1042 to January 1055. Empress Zoë Porphyrogenita chose him as a husband and co-emperor in 1042, although he had been exiled for conspiring agai ...

(). At the same time, the title also appears as a family name: the and Michael Rhektor was a member of the regency council appointed on the death of

Romanos II Romanos II (; 938 – 15 March 963) was Byzantine Emperor from 959 to 963. He succeeded his father Constantine VII at the age of twenty-one and died suddenly and mysteriously four years later. His wife Theophano helped their sons Basil II ...

in 963, while under

Nikephoros III Nikephoros III Botaneiates (; 1002–1081), Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates, was Byzantine Emperor from 7 January 1078 to 1 April 1081. He became a general during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos, servi ...

() a monk called Rhektor pretended to be

Michael VII Doukas Michael VII Doukas or Ducas (), nicknamed Parapinakes (, , a reference to the devaluation of the Byzantine currency under his rule), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 1071 to 1078. He was known as incompetent as an emperor and reliant on ...

() and tried to overthrow the emperor.

List of known ''rhaiktores''

References

Sources

* * * * * {{cite book , last=Oikonomides , first=Nicolas , authorlink=Nicolas Oikonomides , title=Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles , location=Paris , publisher=Editions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique , year=1972 , language=French , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RFdmAAAAMAAJ Byzantine palace offices Byzantine court titles