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Megas Hetaireiarches
The (), sometimes anglicized as Hetaeriarch, was a high-ranking Byzantine officer, in command of the imperial bodyguard, the . In the 9th–10th centuries there appear to have been several , each for one of the subdivisions of the , but in later times only the senior of them, the () or Great Hetaeriarch survived, eventually becoming simply a high court rank in the 12th–15th centuries. History The Imperial (, ) was a bodyguard regiment of the Byzantine emperors in the 9th–11th centuries, originally recruited mainly from among foreigners. It is first mentioned in 812, as a bodyguard for the emperor on campaign, but its origin is obscure. The Imperial of the 9th–10th centuries was divided in several units: three or four according to the sources, distinguished by their epithets and each, at least originally, under is respective . Thus the commanded the 'Great ' (, ). He was the senior of the military officials known as and as a result of his prominence was often referred to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th centuryAD, it endured until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. The term 'Byzantine Empire' was coined only after its demise; its citizens used the term 'Roman Empire' and called themselves 'Romans'. During the early centuries of the Roman Empire, the western provinces were Romanization (cultural), Latinised, but the eastern parts kept their Hellenistic culture. Constantine the Great, Constantine I () legalised Christianity and moved the capital to Constantinople. Theodosius I, Theodosius I () made Christianity the state religion and Greek gradually replaced Latin for official use. The empire adopted a defensive strategy and, throughout its remaining history, expe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eunuch (court Official)
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 2nd millennium BCE. Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures: courtiers or equivalent Domestic worker, domestics, for espionage or clandestine operations, ''castrato'' singers, Concubinage, concubines or sexual partners, religious specialists, soldiers, royal guards, government officials, and guardians of women or harem servants. Eunuchs would usually be servants or Slavery, slaves who had been castrated to make them less threatening servants of a royal court where physical access to the ruler could wield great influence. Seemingly lowly domestic functions—such as making the ruler's bed, bathing him, cutting his hair, carrying him in his litter (vehicle), litter, or even rel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kabbadion
The ''kabbadion'' () was a caftan-like garment of oriental origin which became a standard part of court costume in the last centuries of the Byzantine Empire. The first known reference to the ''kabbadion'' occurs in the ''Kletorologion'' of 899, where it is mentioned as the dress of the barbarian (''ethnikoi'') members of the Emperor's bodyguard, the ''Hetaireia''. It re-appears in the mid-14th century in the ''Book of Offices'' of pseudo-Kodinos as the standard ceremonial dress for almost all court members. Kodinos describes it as an "Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ..." clearly indicating a provenance from the Islamic world. It is therefore usually equated with the long, caftan-like and full-sleeved tunic worn by various Byzantine officials in depictions of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Logariastes Tes Aules
() was a type of financial official in the Byzantine Empire from the early 11th century onwards, with the task of controlling expenses. The post is attested for the first time in 1012, and existed both within the financial bureaux () of the central government such as those of the , the and the as well as in the provincial administration, in monasteries or in private estates. appear in the sources until the 15th century. Emperor Alexios I Komnenos () created the post of (, 'grand accountant'), first attested in 1094. Initially, it shared the duty of general comptroller of the fisc with the , but soon replaced the latter office entirely. The post is attested until the 14th century. In the mid-14th century ''Book of Offices'' of pseudo-Kodinos, the is ranked 40th in the palace hierarchy, following the and preceding the . According to peudo-Kodinos, by his time he had no function, but was merely an honorific dignity. The costume of office was identical to that of the , i.e. a tu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vestiariou
The (, βεστιαρίτης, '' vestiarites'') were a corps of imperial bodyguards and fiscal officials in the Byzantine Empire, attested from the 11th to the 15th centuries. History and functions The appear in the mid-11th century, with the first known , John Iberitzes, attested in 1049.. As their name indicates, they had a connection to the imperial wardrobe and treasury, the , probably initially raised as a guard detachment for it. From circa 1080 on, they were formally distinguished into two groups: the "inner" or "household" ( or ), attached to the emperor's private treasury (the or ) under a , and the "outer" () under a , who were probably under the public or state treasury (). Gradually, they replaced various other groups of armed guards that the Byzantine emperors had employed inside Constantinople itself, such as the or the , and became the exclusive corps of the emperor's confidential agents. As the princess and historian Anna Komnene writes, they were the courtie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megas Chartoullarios
The ''chartoularios'' or ''chartularius'' (), Anglicized as chartulary, was a late Roman and Byzantine administrative official, entrusted with administrative and fiscal duties, either as a subaltern official of a department or province or at the head of various independent bureaus. History The title derives from Latin from (ultimately from Greek ), a term used for official documents, and is attested from 326, when ''chartularii'' were employed in the chanceries (''scrinia'') of the senior offices of the Roman state (the praetorian prefecture, the '' officium'' of the ''magister militum'', etc.).. Originally lowly clerks, by the 6th century they had risen in importance, to the extent that Peter the Patrician, when distinguishing between civil and military officials, calls the former ''chartoularikoi''. From the 7th century on, ''chartoularioi'' could be either employed as heads of departments within a fiscal department (''sekreton'' or ''logothesion''), as heads of independent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Pseudo-Kodinos
George Kodinos (), also Pseudo-Kodinos or Codinus, is the conventional name of an anonymous late 15th-century author of late Byzantine literature. Their attribution to him is only traditional, and is based on the fact that all three works come in the same manuscript. The works referred to are the following: #'' Patria'' (Πάτρια Κωνσταντινουπόλεως), treating of the history, topography, and monuments of Constantinople. It is divided into five sections: (a) the foundation of the city; (b) its situation, limits and topography; (c) its statues, works of art, and other notable sights; (d) its buildings; (e) and the construction of the Hagia Sophia. It was written in the reign of Basil II (976-1025), revised and rearranged under Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118), and perhaps copied by Codinus, whose name it bears in some (later) manuscripts. The chief sources are: the ''Patria'' of Hesychius Illustrius of Miletus, the anonymous ''Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palaiologan Period
The Byzantine Empire, officially known as the Roman Empire, was ruled by the Palaiologos dynasty in the period between 1261 and 1453, from the restoration of Byzantine rule to Constantinople by the usurper Michael VIII Palaiologos following its recapture from the Latin Empire, founded after the Fourth Crusade (1204), up to the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire. Together with the preceding Nicaean Empire and the contemporary '' Frankokratia'', this period is known as the late Byzantine Empire. From the start, the regime faced numerous problems.Mango, p. 255 The Turks of Asia Minor had begun conducting raids and expanding into Byzantine territory in Asia Minor by 1263, just two years after the enthronement of the first Palaiologos emperor Michael VIII. Anatolia, which had formed the very heart of the shrinking empire, was systematically lost to numerous Turkic '' ghazis'', whose raids evolved into conquering expeditions inspired by Islamic zeal, the prospect of economic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean. His reign saw the last flowering of the Komnenian restoration, during which the Byzantine Empire experienced a resurgence of military and economic power and enjoyed a cultural revival. Eager to restore his empire to its past glories as the great power of the Mediterranean world, Manuel pursued an energetic and ambitious foreign policy. In the process he made alliances with Pope Adrian IV and the resurgent West. He invaded the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, although unsuccessfully, being the last Eastern Roman emperor to attempt reconquests in the western Mediterranean. The passage of the potentially dangerous Second Crusade through his empire was adroitly managed. Manuel established a Byzantine protec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, Alexios II and Andronikos I. It was a period of sustained, though ultimately incomplete, restoration of the military, territorial, economic and political position of the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium under the Komnenoi played a key role in the history of the Crusades in the Holy Land, while also exerting enormous cultural and political influence in Europe, the Near East, and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. The Komnenian emperors, particularly John and Manuel, exerted great influence over the Crusader states of Outremer, whilst Alexios I played a key role in the course of the First Crusade, which he helped bring about. Moreover, it was during the Komnenian period that contact between Byzantium and the 'Latin' Christian West, includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
