''Silentiarius'', Hellenized to ''silentiarios'' () and

Anglicized Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

to silentiary, was the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

title given to a class of

courtiers A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other Royal family, royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as ...

in the

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 ...

imperial court, responsible for order and silence () in 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 ...

. In the middle Byzantine period (8th–11th centuries), it was transformed into an honorific court title.

History and functions

An imperial edict dated to 326 or 328 provides the earliest attestation of the title.. The '' schola'' of the ''silentiarii'' was supervised by the '' praepositus sacri cubiculi'' and its members belonged to the jurisdiction of the ''

magister officiorum The (Latin; ; ) was one of the most senior administrative officials in the Later Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantium, the office was eventually transformed into a senior honorary rank, simply called ''magist ...

''. Their function in the palace was to keep order during imperial audiences and to call the meeting of the emperor's privy council, the '' consistorium'' (an act called "''silentium nuntiare''").. Four ''silentiarii'' were detailed to the service of the empress. The ''silentiarii'' were chosen from the senatorial class, but freed from the usual obligations of this class. A class of honorary ''silentiarii'', admittance into which could be purchased, also existed. By 437, the size of the actual ''schola'' had been set to thirty, with three '' decuriones'' () placed in charge of it. Although initially low-ranking, their proximity to the imperial person occasioned the elevation of the ordinary members to the rank of ''

vir spectabilis The title ''vir illustris'' () is used as a formal indication of standing in late antiquity to describe the highest ranks within the senates of Rome and Constantinople. All senators had the title ''vir clarissimus'' (); but from the mid fourth ce ...

'' in the 5th century and of the ''decuriones'' further to the rank of ''

vir illustris The title ''vir illustris'' () is used as a formal indication of standing in late antiquity to describe the highest ranks within the senates of Rome and Constantinople. All senators had the title ''vir clarissimus'' (); but from the mid fourth ce ...

'' in the 6th century. After the 6th century, the post became purely ceremonial. The title survived into the lists of offices of the 9th and 10th centuries as the second-lowest among the honorific dignities reserved for the "bearded men" (i.e. non-

eunuchs 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 2 ...

). According to the ''Klētorologion'' of Philotheos, their distinctive badge of office was a gold staff. Peter the Patrician records how the emperor himself would conduct the ceremony of their investiture with the staff. The last attested occurrence of the title is during the reign of Emperor

Nikephoros II Phokas Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless greatly contributed to the resurgence of t ...

(r. 963–969), and like most of the middle Byzantine titles, it seems to have disappeared sometime in the 11th–12th centuries.

Notable ''silentiarii''

*Emperor Anastasius I (r. 491–518) was a ''decurio'' of the ''silentiarii'' before his accession to the throne. * Paul the Silentiary, 6th-century poet in the court of 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). * Gubazes II, client king of

Lazica The Kingdom of Lazica (; ; ), sometimes called Lazian Empire, was a state in the territory of west Georgia in the Roman era, Georgia in the Roman period, from about the 1st century BC. Created as a result of the collapse of the kingdom of Colc ...

(r. 541–554), by birth a half-Roman, served as a ''silentiarius'' at the time of his accession. * John the Silentiary, in 751, attempted with Pope Stephen II to negotiate the release of some territories seized by the Lombard King

Aistulf Aistulf (also Ahistulf, Haistulfus, Astolf etc.; , ; died December 756) was the Duke of Friuli from 744, King of the Lombards from 749, and Duke of Spoleto from 751. His reign was characterized by ruthless and ambitious efforts to conquer Roman ...

.Partner, Peter (1972). ''The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance''. University of California Press, pp.18-20

References

Sources

* * {{ODB , last=Kazhdan , first=Alexander , authorlink=Alexander Kazhdan , title = Silentiarios , page = 1896 Byzantine court titles Byzantine palace offices Historical management occupations Ceremonial occupations