''Stratēlatēs'' (, "driver/leader of the army") was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
term designating a general, which also became an
honorary dignity in the
Byzantine Empire
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 History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
. In the former sense, it was often applied to military saints, such as
Theodore Stratelates.
In the late Roman/early Byzantine Empire, the title was used, along with the old-established ''
stratēgos'', to translate into Greek the office of ''
magister militum
(Latin for "master of soldiers"; : ) was a top-level military command used in the late Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the e ...
'' ("master of the soldiers").
[.] In the 6th century, however, Novel 90 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 ...
() attests the existence of a middle-ranking honorific title of ''stratēlatēs'', which ranked alongside the ''apo eparchōn'' ("former
prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect' ...
"). A ''prōtostratēlatēs'' ("first ''stratēlatēs''") Theopemptos is attested in a 7th-century seal, likely indicating the senior-most dignitary among the entire class of the ''stratēlatai''. This ''stratēlasia'' was a purely honorary dignity, attached to no office, and declined measurably in prestige during the 7th and 8th centuries:
sigillographic
Sigillography, also known by its Greek-derived name, sphragistics, is the scholarly discipline that studies the Sealing wax, wax, lead, clay, and other Seal (emblem), seals used to authenticate archive, archival documents. It investigates not o ...
evidence shows that it came to be held by the lower rung of the imperial bureaucracy, such as ''
kommerkiarioi'' (customs supervisors), ''kouratores'' (supervisors of imperial establishments) and ''notarioi'' (imperial secretaries).
By the late 9th century, it ranked at the bottom of the hierarchy of imperial dignities (along with the ''apo eparchōn''), as attested in the 899 ''
Klētorologion'' of Philotheos. The ''Klētorologion'' also records that the dignity was conferred by the award of a codicil or diploma (Greek: χάρτης), retaining 6th-century practice. In the 10th-11th centuries, the term returned to its original military meaning, being used for senior generals, including the commanders-in-chief (the
Domestics of the Schools) of East and West.
At the same time, however, the presence of a ''
tagma'' (professional standing regiment) called the ''Stratēlatai'' is attested in
Asia Minor
Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
in the late 10th century, formed by Emperor
John I Tzimiskes ().
See also
*
References
Sources
*
*
* {{cite book , last = Kühn , first = Hans-Joachim , title = Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata , language = German , year = 1991 , location = Vienna , publisher = Fassbaender Verlag , isbn = 3-9005-38-23-9
Byzantine court titles
Byzantine army
Byzantine military offices
Greek words and phrases