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.

Sources

• Warren T. Treadgold. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8047-2630-2
• H.R. Ellis Davidson. The Viking Road to Byzantium. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1976. ISBN 0049400495
• Michael Angold. The Byzantine Aristocracy: IX to XIII Centuries. Oxford: BAR International Series, 1984. ISBN 0860542831.
• Deno John Geanakoplos. Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258-1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1973. ISBN 1208013105.
• Alexiad of Anna Comnena, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/AnnaComnena-Alexiad.html
• Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, http://www.ccel.org/g/gibbon/decline/
• Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents from Dumbarton Oaks