The ''parathalassitēs'' (, "the one by the sea") 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 ...
judicial and administrative office which, as its name implies, exercised control over
maritime traffic and the
import
An importer is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade. Import is part of the International Trade which involves buying and receivin ...
s and
tolls on goods conveyed thereby.
[.][.]
Although there were several ''parathalassitai'' in the Byzantine provinces, the most important holder of the office was the ''parathalassitēs'' of
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 ...
, the imperial capital.
The origins of the office are obscure: an anonymous chronicle attributes its creation to Emperor
Justinian I
Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...
(r. 527–565).
He may be regarded as the rough equivalent of the ''comes riparum'' ("count of the river") and ''comes portus'' ("count of the port") of
Old Rome.
[.] Like him, he was a subordinate official of the urban prefect, also known as the
Eparch of Constantinople; in Philotheos's ''
Klētorologion'' of 899, he is indeed shown as being of relatively lowly rank.
The office, however, evidently rose in importance later, during the 11th and 12th centuries, as attested by the senior dignities (up to ''
prōtoproedros'' and ''
kouropalatēs'') in surviving seals of holders of the office. It is possible, as surmised by
Helene Ahrweiler, that at about the same time the office was removed from the urban prefect's purview and made an independent government department, putting the ''parathalassitēs'' on the same footing as the urban prefect and the ''
logothetēs tou genikou''. In the 12th century, multiple holders of the office are attested at the same time.
It is not known when the office was abolished, but it does not appear in sources from the 13th century onwards.
References
Sources
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Byzantine administrative offices
Administration of Constantinople
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