A ''prostagma'' ( el, πρόσταγμα) or ''prostaxis'' (πρόσταξις), both meaning "order, command", were documents issued by the

Byzantine 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 ...

imperial chancery bearing an imperial decision or command, usually on administrative matters. ''Prostaxis'' was the common term in the 11th–13th centuries, when it was replaced by ''prostagma''. The earliest such document to survive dates to 1214, however. They were usually short documents, signed by the

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as l ...

with the ''

menologem In the Byzantine Empire, the menologem (Greek μηνολόγημα, ''menologema'', or μηνολόγιον, ''menologion'') was a dating clause used in certain types of official acts, such as the '' prostagma'' and ''sigillion''. It recorded the mo ...

'' in red ink, and usually with the emperor's wax seal. The ''prostagmata'' of the Emperors of Trebizond were signed with an abridged form of the imperial signature. Similar documents issued by the Despots were termed '' horismos'', while those of the

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and ''primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of the ...

or other state officials were variously termed ''

ara ARA may refer to: Media and the arts * American-Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences * '' Artistička Radna Akcija'', compilation album released in former Yugoslavia * Associate of the Royal Academy, denoting membership in the British Royal Acad ...

eleusis'', ''entalma'', ''grama'', etc. Serbian rulers also issued ''prostagmata''. The ''prostagmata'' were used for "transmitting orders, .granting privileges, for legislating and for regulating, for attesting an oath taken by the emperor (''horkomotikon prostagma'')", as well as "for appointing individuals to administrative positions, or for granting honorific titles", replacing the '' probatoriae'' and '' codicilli'' inherited from late Roman practice and used until the 10th century.

References

Sources

* * * {{cite journal , last = Ostrogorsky , first = George , authorlink = George Ostrogorsky , title = Prostagme srpskih vladara , trans-title= The Prostagmas of the Serbian Rulers , journal = Prilozi za književnost, jezik, istoriju ifołklor , volume = 34 , year = 1968 , pages = 245–257 , language = Serbo-Croatian Government of the Byzantine Empire Medieval documents