The ''megas dioikētēs'' () was a

Byzantine 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 the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

court dignity during the

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 r ...

History

The ''megas dioikētēs'' derives from the title '' dioikētēs'' ("administrator"), with the addition of ''megas'', "grand". The ''dioikētēs'' was a provincial fiscal administrative post, which however was replaced in the early 12th century by the '' praktōr''. The dignity is very obscure, and is rarely mentioned in the sources. Its first mention is about an anonymous holder in a letter by

Manuel Moschopoulos Manuel Moschopoulos ( Latinized as Manuel Moschopulus; ), was a Byzantine commentator and grammarian, who lived during the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century and was an important figure in the Palaiologan Renaissance. ''Moschop ...

, written in . Most information comes from the ''Book of Offices'', written by

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 middle of the 14th century. According to pseudo-Kodinos, the office held no specific function, but was a purely honorific dignity. In other sources, its holders appear to exercise fiscal and judicial functions. In pseudo-Kodinos' work, the title ranked 55th in the court hierarchy, between the '' prōtallagatōr'' and the ''

orphanotrophos ''Orphanotrophos'' () was a Byzantine title for the curator of an orphanage (ὀρφανοτροφεῖον, ''orphanotropheion''). The director of the most important orphanage, the imperial orphanage in Constantinople, established in the 4th cent ...

''. In other contemporary lists of offices his position varies, but is far lower, coming usually right after the '' logariastēs tēs aulēs''. Thus in the appendix to the '' Hexabiblos'', which reflects the usage during the late reign of

Andronikos II Palaiologos Andronikos II Palaiologos (; 25 March 1259 – 13 February 1332), Latinization of names, Latinized as Andronicus II Palaeologus, reigned as Byzantine emperor from 1282 to 1328. His reign marked the beginning of the recently restored em ...

() or during the reign of

Andronikos III Palaiologos Andronikos III Palaiologos (; 25 March 1297 – 15 June 1341), commonly Latinized as Andronicus III Palaeologus, was the Byzantine emperor from 1328 to 1341. He was the son of Michael IX Palaiologos and Rita of Armenia. He was proclaimed c ...

(), he ranks 79th among 91 offices, right before the ''

nomophylax The ''nomophylax'' (, "guardian of the laws") was a senior Byzantine judicial office of the 11th–15th centuries. History The office of ''nomophylax'' was established by Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (r. 1042–1055) either in 1043, 1045, or 1 ...

'' and following the ''logariastēs tēs aulēs''. In the list of

Matthew Blastares Matthew Blastares (; ) was a 14th-century Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek monk in Thessalonica and early scholarly opponent of reconciliation with Papacy, Rome. He was also the writer of the ''Syntagma Canonum''. Life Blastares was a hieromonk i ...

, which also reflects usage under Andronikos II, he ranks 79th among 90 dignities, and in an anonymous list in verse, which probably corresponds to the situation in 1321–1328, 50th among 60. In the early 15th-century list of ''Paris. gr. 1783'', the ''megas dioikētēs'' is the 67th among 75 dignities, in that of ''Vatic. gr. 962'' he ranks 69th among 92 dignities, and in that of ''Xeropotam. 191'' 64th among 69 dignities. Pseudo-Kodinos also provides information on the dignity's court dress: a '' skiadion'' hat with gold-wire embroidery, a "plain silk" kaftan-like ''

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, ...

'', and a ceremonial domed hat called '' skaranikon'', covered with velvet and topped with a red tassel. The uniform was complemented by a staff (''dikanikion'') of plain wood, smooth and without a knob. Only a handful of holders are known by name: the writer and official Theodore Kabasilas in 1316–1322; the '' katholikos kritēs'' Glabas in 1330–1341; and the ''

sebastos ( , ) was an honorific used by the ancient Greeks to render the Roman imperial title of . The female form of the title was (). It was revived as an honorific in the 11th century Byzantine Empire and came to form the basis of a new system of co ...

'' John Doukas Balsamon, ''megas dioikētēs'' at

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area) and the capital city, capital of the geographic reg ...

in 1355, known only from an act concerning the

Docheiariou monastery The Docheiariou monastery () is an Eastern Orthodox monastery at the monastic state of Mount Athos in Greece. The is located in the monastery complex. History It was founded during the late 10th or early 11th century, and is dedicated to the me ...

References

Sources

* * * * {{Byzantine offices after pseudo-Kodinos Byzantine court titles