Kletorologion

The Klētorologion of Philotheos ( Greek Κλητορολόγιον ) is the longest and most important Byzantine listing of all offices and ranks at the imperial court ( tactics ). It was opened in September 899 during the reign of Emperor Leo VI. (Regency 886–912) published by the otherwise unknown Prōtospatharios and Atriklinēs Philotheos . As atriklinēs , Philotheos was responsible for welcoming guests during the imperial banquets ( Klētoria ) and for escorting them to their correct seats in accordance with the imperial hierarchy . In the foreword of his work he points out that he created the work as a “precise synopsis of the imperial seating arrangement, the name and rank of each title, in line with older klētorologia ”.

Sections

Philotheo's work has come down to us only as an addendum within the last chapters (52–54) of a later work on the same subject, known as De Ceremoniis by Emperor Konstantin Porphyrogennetus (reign 913–959). It is divided into four sections:

Section I is the introduction and gives a brief overview of all offices and titles in the Byzantine Empire, which are divided into four categories: ranks for "bearded" (ie no eunuchs), large state offices, small offices of the imperial bureaucracy, ranks for eunuchs and important state offices reserved for eunuchs.

Sections II and III contain the order in which the dignitaries are greeted at the imperial banquet. Section II names the most important of them who had the right to sit at the emperor's table, while Section III deals with middle and lower officials such as the ambassadors of the patriarchates ( Rome , Antioch and Jerusalem ) and foreign dignitaries ( Arabs , Bulgarians and German ).

Section IV is the longest section of text. It is addressed to the courtly atriklinēs and gives instructions on how to arrange the imperial banquets, starting with the one at Christmas . It also contains two other memoranda, one on the attentions that a Byzantine emperor should give to various dignitaries on the occasion of banquets, and the other on the content of the atriklinai .

Another short section (Chapter 54 of De Ceremoniis ) describes the ecclesiastical offices and their order of precedence and also includes Notitia Episcopatuum des Pseudo-Epiphanius, a list of the episcopal dioceses .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Kazhdan (Ed.): Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Volume 3. 1991, p. 1661.
^ Bury: The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century. 1911, p. 11.
^ ^A ^b ^c ^d Bury: The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century. 1911, p. 15.
^ Bury: The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century. 1911, p. 10.
^ Bury: The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century. 1911, pp. 14-15.
↑ ^a ^b Kazhdan (Ed.): Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Volume 3. 1991, p. 1662.

literature

John B. Bury : The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century. With a Revised Text of the Kletorologion of Philotheos (= The British Academy. Supplemental Papers. Vol. 1, ZDB -ID 433299-4 ). The British Academy, London 1911, online here .
Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . 3 volumes. Oxford University Press, New York NY et al. 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 .

[ODB1661-1] Kazhdan (Ed.): Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Volume 3. 1991, p. 1661.

[2] Bury: The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century. 1911, p. 11.

[Bury15-3] A ^b ^c ^d Bury: The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century. 1911, p. 15.

[4] Bury: The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century. 1911, p. 10.

[5] Bury: The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century. 1911, pp. 14-15.

[ODB1662-6] Kazhdan (Ed.): Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Volume 3. 1991, p. 1662.