Philotheos (master of ceremonies)

Philotheos ( Middle Greek Φιλόθεος ) was a Byzantine master of ceremonies who lived at the end of the 9th century.

Very little is known about his life. In 899 Philotheos wrote a treatise in four books, which is mostly referred to as the Kletorologion . The work was edited again shortly after its completion and represents one of the most important sources for the hierarchy of offices and titles in the Middle Byzantine period. It lists, for example, festivals, the most important dignitaries and the course of award ceremonies. Philotheos made a strict distinction between the various rank designations. In addition, the work provides a lot of important information, for example regarding the reign of Emperor Leo VI .

This philotheos is possibly identical with a philotheos attested a few years later, who bore the honorary title of Patrikios .

literature

• John B. Bury : The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century. With a Revised Text of the Kletorologion of Philotheos . London 1911; here online .
• N. Oikonomides: Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles . Paris 1972.
• W. Seibt: Ph. Protospatharios . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Vol. 6, Col. 2104f.