The ''Noumeroi'' (, masculine plural) or ''Noumera'' ( �ὰNούμερα, neuter plural, from the Latin ''numerus'', "number" in the sense of "regiment") were 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 ...

infantry garrison unit for the imperial capital,

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. Their main task involved the protection 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 Noumera, one of the city's prisons.

History and functions

The origin and date of establishment of the ''Noumeroi'' is unknown.Guilland (1969), p. 48 They are first securely attested during the reign of

Michael III Michael III (; 9/10 January 840 – 24 September 867), also known as Michael the Drunkard, was Byzantine emperor from 842 to 867. Michael III was the third and traditionally last member of the Amorian dynasty, Amorian (or Phrygian) dynasty. He ...

(r. 842–867): the unit is mentioned in 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 842/843, and the name of one of its commanders, Leo Lalakon, also survives from the same period.Bury (1911), p. 65Kazhdan (1991), p. 641 J.B. Bury considered a seal of the 7th–8th centuries mentioning a "''

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 ...

tou nou erou?'" as an indication of a predecessor of the 9th-century unit, and based on the nomenclature of its subaltern officers hypothesized an origin in the

East Roman army The Eastern Roman army refers to the army of the eastern section of the Roman Empire, from the empire's definitive split in 395 AD to the army's reorganization by themes after the permanent loss of Syria, Palestine and Egypt to the Arabs in the 7 ...

of the 6th century,Bury (1911), pp. 65–66 while

John Haldon John Frederick Haldon FBA (born 23 October 1948 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is a British historian, and Shelby Cullom Davis '30 Professor of European History emeritus, professor of Byzantine history and Hellenic Studies emeritus, as well as former ...

traces its hypothetical lineage to the late 7th century. The unit survived until the 11th century, when it ceases to be mentioned, indicating that it was dissolved. The precise title of this unit remains uncertain. In Byzantine literature it is documented only in the genitive plural (τῶν Νουμέρων), which leaves unclear whether the unit title was ''Noumeroi'' (Νούμεροι) or ''Noumera'' (Νούμερα). Modern scholars over the past century have variously favoured both forms. The term ''noumeros'' (transliterated from , in Greek also translated as ''arithmos'') was itself a common term for a regular military unit of indeterminate size used in

Late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

. It was only later, in the 8th and possibly even in the 9th century, that the name came to specify this particular unit.Guilland (1969), p. 49 The regiment in turn gave its name to the Noumera, a building adjoining the

Hippodrome of Constantinople The Hippodrome of Constantinople (; ; ) was a Roman circus, circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square in Istanbul, Turkey, known as Sultanahmet Square (). The word ...

that served as their barracks and as a city prison. The French scholar

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 ...

identified the 9th-century Noumera with the prison known as Prandiara in earlier times. The ''Noumeroi'' ranked among the imperial '' tagmata'', professional regiments stationed in and around

. Unlike most of the ''tagmata'', the ''Noumeroi'' were composed of infantry and never left Constantinople, being entrusted with guard duties in the city, specifically watching over the Noumera prison and sharing the protection of the

with two other ''tagmata'', the '' Vigla'' or ''Arithmos'', a cavalry unit which accompanied the emperor on campaign, and another infantry unit under the Count or Domestic of the Walls (''komēs/domestikos ton teichōn''). The latter had close ties with the ''Noumeroi'': they shared a common function and had the same internal structure, and until the reign of Michael III at least, the two commands seem to have been combined under a single officer, as attested in the person of a certain Nikephoritzes during this time. The Count and his men were originally responsible for the defence of the

Anastasian Wall The Anastasian Wall (Greek: , ; ) or the Long Walls of Thrace (Greek: , ; Turkish: ''Uzun Duvar'') or simply Long Wall / Macron Teichos () is an ancient stone and turf fortification located west of Istanbul, Turkey, built by the Eastern Roman Em ...

, and later, like the ''Noumeroi'', charged with the supervision of the

Chalke The Chalke Gate (), was the main ceremonial entrance ( vestibule) to the Great Palace of Constantinople in the Byzantine period. The name, which means "the Bronze Gate", was given to it either because of the bronze portals or from the gilded bro ...

prison and guard duties in the Great Palace.

Command structure

Like most of the ''tagmata'', the commander of the ''Noumeroi'' bore the title of Domestic (''

domestikos ''Domestikos'' (; , from the ), in English sometimes heDomestic, was a civil, ecclesiastic and military office in the Late Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. Military usage The ''domestikoi'' trace their ancestry to the '' protectores domest ...

tōn Noumerōn'', ), usually named simply ''ho noumeros'' (). Based on surviving seals, in the 9th century he usually bore the ranks of ''

spatharios The ''spatharii'' or ''spatharioi'' (singular: ; , literally " spatha-bearer") were a class of Late Roman imperial bodyguards in the court in Constantinople in the 5th–6th centuries, later becoming a purely honorary dignity in the Byzantine Emp ...

'' or '' prōtospatharios''. As with the other commanders of the ''tagmata'', the Domestic of the ''Noumeroi'' played an important role in court ceremonies, and was associated with the racing faction of the Blues, and the senior ''tagma'' of the '' Scholai'', while the Walls were associated with the Green faction and the second-most senior ''tagma'', the Excubitors.Guilland (1969), pp. 49–50 Like the other ''tagmata'', the Domestic was assisted by a '' topotērētēs'' (τοποτηρητής, lit. "placeholder, lieutenant"), a secretary called ''

chartoularios 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 th ...

'' (χαρτουλάριος), and a chief messenger called ''prōtomandatōr'' (πρωτομανδάτωρ).Bury (1911), p. 66 The subaltern officers were titled, in late antique fashion, ''tribounoi'' (, "

tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

s") and ''vikarioi'' (βικάριοι, "'' vicarii''"), corresponding to the ''komētēs'' ("counts") and ''kentarchoi'' ("

centurion In the Roman army during classical antiquity, a centurion (; , . ; , or ), was a commander, nominally of a century (), a military unit originally consisting of 100 legionaries. The size of the century changed over time; from the 1st century BC ...

s") of the other ''tagmata''. There were also a number of messengers (μανδάτορες, ''mandatores'') and door-keepers (πορτάριοι, ''portarioi''), the latter evidently related to the regiment's prison guard duties.

References

Sources

* * * * * *{{cite book , title=Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081 , last=Treadgold , first=Warren T. , year=1995 , publisher=Stanford University Press , isbn=0-8047-3163-2 Constantinople Infantry units and formations Guards units of the Byzantine Empire