Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy

The Byzantine Empire had a complex system of aristocracy and bureaucracy. Most of the offices and titles were honorifics only, as the emperor was the sole ruler. Over the more than 1000 years of the empire's existence, different titles were adopted and discarded, and many lost or gained prestige. At first the various titles of the empire were the same as those in the late Roman Empire, as the Byzantine Empire was not yet distinguished from Rome. By the time of Heraclius in the 7th century many of the titles had become obsolete; by the time of Alexius I, many of the positions were either new or drastically changed, but they remained basically the same from Alexius' reign to the fall of the Empire in 1453.

Administrative titles

The vast Byzantine bureaucracy had many titles, and varied more than aristocratic and military titles. In Constantinople there were normally hundreds, if not thousands, of bureaucrats at any time. These are some of the more common ones, including non-nobles who also directly served the emperor.

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• Praetorian prefect ? The Praetorian prefect was originally an old Roman office used for the commander of the army in the Eastern and Western portions of the Empire. It was abolished in the 7th century when it had become useless (as there was by then no Western portion of the Empire). The title evolved into the domestikos. After Diocletian's reforms, the functions of the Prefect embraced a wide sphere; they were administrative, financial, judicial, and even legislative. The provincial governors were appointed at his recommendation, and with him rested their dismissal, subject to the Emperor's approval. He received regular reports of the administration from the governors of the provinces. He had treasuries of his own, and the payment and the food supplies of the army devolved upon him. He was also a supreme judge of appeal; in cases which were brought before his court from a lower tribunal there was no further appeal to the Emperor. He could issue, on his own authority, praetorian edicts, but they concerned only matters of detail.
• Protoasecretes - an earlier title for the head of the chancery, responsible for keeping official government records. The asecretes was a subordinate. Other subordinates included the chartoularios (in charge of imperial documents), the kastrinsios (a chamberlain in the palace), the mystikos (a private secretary), and the eidikos (a treasury official).
• Logothetes - a secretary in the extensive bureaucracy, who did various jobs depending on the exact position. Logothetes were some of the most important bureaucrats. They included:
• Megas logothetes (Grand Logothete) ? the head of the logothetes, personally responsible for the legal system and treasury, somewhat like a chancellor in western Europe.
• Logothetes tou dromou (Postal Logothete) ? the head of diplomacy and the postal service.
• Logothetes ton oikeiakon (Domestic Logothete) ? head of domestic affairs, such as the security of Constantinople and the local economy.
• Logothetes tou genikou (General Logothete) ? responsible for taxation.
• Logothetes tou stratiotikou (Military Logothete) ? a civilian, in charge of distributing pay to the army.

Logothetes originally had some influence on the emperor, but they eventually became honorary posts. In the later empire the Grand Logothete became the mesazon ("manager" or, more literally, "middle-man").

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Other administrators included:

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• Prefect ? a lower official in Constantinople, involved in local government.
• Quaestor ? originally a legal and financial official, which lost power after the development of the logothetes.
• Tribounos ? equivalent to the Roman tribune; responsible for maintenance of roads, monuments, and buildings in Constantinople.
• Magister (magister officiorum, magister militum, "maistor" in Greek) ? an old Roman term, master of offices and master of the army; by the time of Heraclius, these had become honorary and were eventually discarded.
• Sacellarios ? under Heraclius, an honorary supervisor of the other palace administrators, logothetes, etc.
• Praetor ? originally an administrator of Constantinople, in charge of taxation; after Alexius, a civil governor of a theme.
• Kephale - "head," the civil governor of a Byzantine town. (?Head?)
• Dragoman ? a Turkish title, which was applied to interpreters and ambassadors.
• Horeiarios ? in charge of distributing food from the state granaries.

The protoasecretes, logothetes, prefect, praetor, quaestor, magister, and sacellarios, among others, were members of the senate, until this became an increasingly unused aspect of the Empire after Heraclius.

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