The ''skouterios'' (, "shield-bearer") 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 office in the 13th–14th centuries, whose role was to carry the emperor's personal standard, the ''

divellion The ''divellion'' or ''dibellion'' () was a symbol of the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty, late Byzantine Empire, the Emperor's personal banner. It was carried by the ''skouterios'' ("shield-bearer"), alongside the Imperial shield, ...

''.

History and functions

The office is very obscure, and is rarely mentioned in the sources. Although it is attested from the 13th century on in the

Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea (), also known as the Nicene Empire, was the largest of the three Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by Walter Abel Heurtley, W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C ...

, most of what is known about it 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 ''skouterios'' was responsible for bearing the emperor's banner, the so-called ''

'' (διβέλλιον) and the emperor's shield (σκουτάριον, ''skoutarion''), not only in ceremonial processions, but whenever the emperor went about in public, including on campaign. The ''skouterios'' preceded the emperor, and the

Varangian Guard The Varangian Guard () was an elite unit of the Byzantine army from the tenth to the fourteenth century who served as personal bodyguards to the Byzantine emperors. The Varangian Guard was known for being primarily composed of recruits from Nort ...

followed behind the ''divellion''. In imperial ceremonies, a number of other standards were also used, but the ''skouterios'' and the ''divellion'' always preceded them. The only exception was when the emperor visited a monastery, where the imperial bootmaker carried the ''divellion''; the reason for this custom was unknown even to Kodinos. In pseudo-Kodinos' work, the post occupies the 42nd place in the imperial hierarchy, between the '' prōtokynēgos'' and the '' amēralios''. His court uniform was typical of the mid-level courtiers: a gold-brocaded hat (''skiadion''), a plain silk '' kabbadion'', and a ''skaranikon'' (domed hat) covered in golden and lemon-yellow silk and decorated with gold wire and images of the emperor in front and rear, respectively depicted enthroned and on horseback. From the few holders known, the post was given to military commanders and fiscal officials. The term is also attested as a family name in

Chalcidice Chalkidiki (; , alternatively Halkidiki), also known as Chalcidice, is a peninsula and regional units of Greece, regional unit of Greece, part of the region of Central Macedonia, in the Geographic regions of Greece, geographic region of Macedon ...

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 ...

, as well as in Trebizond.

List of known ''skouterioi''

References

Sources

* * * * * {{Byzantine offices after pseudo-Kodinos Byzantine court titles Greek words and phrases