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Droungarios Of The Watch
The of the Watch (), sometimes anglicized as Drungary of the Watch, was originally a senior Byzantine military post. Attested since the late 8th century, the commanded the or "Watch", one of the elite professional cavalry regiments () of the middle Byzantine period, and was in charge of the Byzantine emperor's personal security. From , the office was disassociated from its military origin and was transformed into a senior judicial position, thereafter usually referred to as the Grand of the Watch (, ). The office continued to exist as a mostly honorific court dignity in the Palaiologan era, until the very end of the Byzantine Empire in the mid-15th century. Military office The of the Watch was originally the commander of the ("guard watch") or ("number", meaning "regiment"), the third of the , professional cavalry regiments headquartered in and around Constantinople, and distinct from the provincial or thematic troops. The title of itself means "commander of a ", a term ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Droungarios
A ''droungarios'', also spelled ''drungarios'' (, ) and sometimes anglicized as Drungary, was a military rank of the late Roman and Byzantine empires, signifying the commander of a formation known as '' droungos''. Late Roman and Byzantine army Latin-speakers adopted the word ''drungus'' - first attested in the early 4th century - either from Gaulish or from a Germanic language. In the late 6th century, the Emperor Maurice (r. 582–602) in his '' Strategikon'' used ''droungos'' to refer to a specific tactical deployment, usually of cavalry, although still in the general sense of "grouping, division". The term ''droungarios'' (Greek: δρουγγάριος) is not documented before the early 7th century but might have been used as an informal or unofficial designation before that date. The office and the corresponding unit appear to have initially referred to ''ad hoc'' arrangements, but during the early 7th century these were formalized, like much of the Eastern Roman army's r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Covered Hippodrome
The Covered Hippodrome () was a covered courtyard that served as an antechamber to the Great Palace of Constantinople in Istanbul, Turkey. The French scholar Rodolphe Guilland also equated it with the emperors' private hippodrome. It lay on the southeastern corner of the palace complex, and connected the Palace of Daphne in the north with the later lower palace complex around Bucoleon in the south, through the gate of Skyla. It played a great role in imperial ceremonies, and is not to be confused with the far larger adjacent Hippodrome of Constantinople, which in Byzantine sources was often distinguished as the "uncovered" () Hippodrome. From the 9th to the 11th centuries, it was also the site of one of the Byzantine capital's highest courts, the tribunals of the "judges of the Hippodrome" () and of the "judges of the ''velum (Byzantium), velum''" (). Sources * * External links 3D reconstruction at the Byzantium 1200 project Great Palace of Constantinople {{Byzantine-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protospatharios
''Prōtospatharios'' () was one of the highest Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy, court dignities of the middle Byzantine Empire, Byzantine period (8th to 12th centuries), awarded to senior generals and provincial governors, as well as to foreign princes. History The meaning of the title, "first ''spatharios''", indicates its original role as leader of the order (''taxis'') of the ''spatharioi'', the imperial bodyguards, was already attested in the 6th century. Probably under the Byzantium under the Heraclians, Heraclians, the rank became an honorary dignity (Greek: δια βραβείου ἀξία, ''dia brabeiou axia''), and was henceforth bestowed to high-ranking Theme (Byzantine district), theme commanders, senior court officials, and allied rulers.. The first concrete reference to a ''prōtospatharios'' occurs in the ''Chronicle'' of Theophanes the Confessor, who records "Sergios, ''prōtospatharios'' and ''strategos, stratēgos'' of Sicily" in 718. In the late 9th century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrikios
The patricians (from ) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders (494 BC to 287 BC). By the time of the late Republic and Empire, membership in the patriciate was of only nominal significance. The social structure of ancient Rome revolved around the distinction between the patricians and the plebeians. The status of patricians gave them more political power than the plebeians, but the relationship between the groups eventually caused the Conflict of the Orders. This time period resulted in changing of the social structure of ancient Rome. After the Western Empire fell, the term "patrician" continued as a high honorary title in the Eastern Empire. In many medieval Italian republics, especially in Venice and Genoa, medieval patrician classes were once again formally defined groups of leading families. In the Holy Roman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthypatos
''Anthypatos'' () is the translation in Greek of the Latin ''proconsul''. In the Greek-speaking East, it was used to denote this office in Roman and early Byzantine times, surviving as an administrative office until the 9th century. Thereafter, and until the 11th century, it became a senior Byzantine court dignity. History and functions Gubernatorial title The title of ''anthypatos'' was the traditional Greek translation of the Latin title of ''proconsul''. Under the Principate, the title of ''anthypatos''/''proconsul'' had been borne by all governors of a senatorial province, irrespective of whether they had previously been consuls, but after the reforms of Diocletian (), there were only two: the governors of Asia and Africa. The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' of , on the other hand, mentions three, with the proconsuls of Africa (''Pars Occ''. XVIII) and Asia (''Pars Or.'' XX) being joined by the proconsul of Achaea or Hellas (''Pars Or.'' XXI). To them was added Constantinople after it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manuel Kourtikes
Manuel Kourtikes or Kourtikios () was a Byzantine official and military commander in the 940s. Biography The Kourtikios or Kourtikes family was Armenian in origin and entered Byzantine service under Basil I the Macedonian (r. 867–886), when its eponymous founder, K'urdik, ceded his fortress of Lokana to the Empire. Manuel is mentioned for the first time as one of the officials who conspired with the co-emperor Stephen Lekapenos, when the latter deposed his father, Emperor Romanos I, in December 944. Shortly after, however, Stephen and his brother, Constantine, were in turn deposed by their brother-in-law, the legitimate emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos. Constantine VII raised Manuel to the rank of and given the post of , a critical position as its holder's chief duty was guarding the emperor on campaign and in the palace. This suggests that Manuel either quickly defected to Constantine VII's side, or that he had been a partisan of the latter all along, and co-operated wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Kourkouas
John Kourkouas (, ), also transliterated as Kurkuas or Curcuas, was one of the most important generals of the Byzantine Empire. His success in battles against the Muslim states in the East reversed the course of the centuries-long Arab–Byzantine wars and set the stage for Byzantium's eastern conquests later in the century. Kourkouas belonged to a family of Armenian descent that produced several notable Byzantine generals. As commander of an imperial bodyguard regiment, Kourkouas was among the chief supporters of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos () and facilitated the latter's rise to the throne. In 923, Kourkouas was appointed commander-in-chief of the Byzantine armies along the eastern frontier, facing the Abbasid Caliphate and the semi-autonomous Arab Muslim border emirates. He kept this post for more than twenty years, overseeing decisive Byzantine military successes that altered the strategic balance in the region. During the 9th century, Byzantium had gradually recovered its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eustathios Argyros (general Under Leo VI)
Eustathios Argyros (; died ca. 910) was a Byzantine aristocrat and one of the most prominent generals under Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912). The first member of the Argyros family to rise to high posts, he fought with distinction against the Arabs in the east, before being disgraced ca. 907, possibly in connection with the flight of Andronikos Doukas to the Arabs. Rehabilitated soon after, he was appointed as ''strategos'' of Charsianon, from which post he oversaw the settlement of Armenian lords as march-wardens along the Empire's eastern frontier. Promoted to commander of the imperial bodyguard in late 908, he again fell into disgrace shortly after and died of poison (apparently a suicide) on his way to his estates. Life Eustathios Argyros was the son of the ''tourmarches'' Leo Argyros, the founder of the noble Argyros family. Nothing is known of his life or prior to the turn of the 10th century, although he may have been in imperial service as early as 866, when ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varangian Guard
The Varangian Guard () was an elite unit of the Byzantine army from the tenth to the fourteenth century who served as personal bodyguards to the Byzantine emperors. The Varangian Guard was known for being primarily composed of recruits from Northern Europe, including mainly Norsemen from Scandinavia but also Anglo-Saxons from England. The recruitment of distant foreigners from outside Byzantium to serve as the emperor's personal guard was pursued as a deliberate policy, as they lacked local political loyalties and could be counted upon to suppress revolts by disloyal Byzantine factions. The Rus' people, Rus' provided the earliest members of the Varangian Guard. They were in Byzantine service from as early as 874. The Guard was first formally constituted under Emperor Basil II in 988, following the Christianization of Kievan Rus' by Vladimir I of Kiev. Vladimir, who had recently taken control of Kiev with an army of Varangian warriors, sent 6,000 men to Basil as part of a military ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Diehl in the seat of Byzantine studies at the Sorbonne in 1934, which he held until his retirement in 1958. His chief interest was in the late Byzantine period (1204–1453), particularly the Palaiologan period, and his main areas of research were the history of the Great Palace of Constantinople The Great Palace of Constantinople (, ''Méga Palátion''; ), also known as the Sacred Palace (, ''Hieròn Palátion''; ), was the large imperial Byzantine palace complex located in the south-eastern end of the peninsula today making up the Fati ..., and of the offices, dignities, and administrative apparatus of the Byzantine state. Works He wrote 192 works on Byzantine subjects, spanning the years from 1921 to 1980. Many of his articles hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mace (bludgeon)
A mace is a blunt weapon, a type of Club (weapon), club or virge that uses a heavy head on the end of a handle to deliver powerful Strike (attack), strikes. A mace typically consists of a strong, heavy, wooden or metal shaft, often reinforced with metal, featuring a head made of stone, bone, copper, bronze, iron, or steel. The head of a mace can be shaped with flanges or knobs to increase the pressure of an impact by focusing the force on a small point. They would bind on metal instead of sliding around it, allowing them to deliver more force to an armored opponent than a traditional mace. This effect increased the potential for the mace to injure an armored opponent through weak spots in the armor, and even damage plate armor by denting it, potentially binding overlapping plates and impeding the wearer's range of motion. Medieval historian and re-enactor Todd Todeschini (AKA Todd Cutler) demonstrated this effect with period accurate equipment in a series of tests on video. Mac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sagion
The sagum was a garment of note generally worn by members of the Roman military during both the Republic and early Empire. Regarded symbolically as one of war by the same tradition which embraced the toga as a garment of peace,{{cite encyclopedia , editor = Henry Nettleship and J. E. Sandys , encyclopedia = Dictionary of Classical Antiquities , title = Sagum , url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/seyffert/0557.html , accessdate = 2007-02-03 , year = 1894 , url-status = usurped , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070202081018/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/seyffert/0557.html , archivedate = 2007-02-02 it was slightly more practical, consisting of a simple rectangular segment of cloth fastened by a leather or metal clasp and worn on top of the armor. The fabric was unwashed wool, saturated with lanolin Lanolin (from Latin 'wool', and 'oil'), also called wool fat, wool yolk, wool wax, sheep grease, sheep yolk, or wool grease, is a wax secreted by the sebaceou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
