Silentiarius (Byzantium)

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A silentiarius (plural silentiarii , from Latin silentium ["calm"]; later Hellenized to Greek silentiarios [σιλεντιάριος]) was the holder of a late Roman and Byzantine court office.

As early as the 1st century AD there were slaves (later freedmen ) who had to ensure peace and order among the servants at court (documented in the inscriptions CIL 06, 6217 , CIL 06, 9041 and CIL 06, 9042 ) . Even in wealthy households, such tasks were usually entrusted to one or more servants. Under Constantine the Great , however, the court office of the silentiarius was created for this task in the imperial palace . The edict in which it is first mentioned is dated either to 326 or 328. The porters were supervised by the praepositus sacri cubiculi and were possibly subject to the jurisdiction of the magister officiorum , but perhaps also exclusively to that of the emperor. They were recruited from the senatorial class , but were released from the obligations of their classmates.

At the imperial court of Constantinople there were (as evidenced for the year 437) a total of 30 silentiarii , which were led by three decuriones sacri palatii . Many of them became confidants of the Eastern Roman emperors or empresses in late antiquity . In addition, they also took on some informal tasks that went beyond the administration of the servants. They held the court office of the marshal , proclaimed the meetings of the court councilor ( consistorium ; this act was called silentium nuntiare ) and guarded the emperor during military expeditions. In addition, depending on the occasion, they were also active as bearers of important messages, in general officer services or as a member of the entourage of the imperial women in public appearances.

In 415 the silentiarii , who had previously held a comparatively low position among the court offices, were elevated to spectabiles and were awarded various privileges in the course of the 5th century. Their decurions rose to become illustrious in the following century , one of them, Anastasios I , had already become emperor in 491. With Gubazes, a ruler of the Lases , a ruling king also became a member of the silentiarii . Since these were directly subordinate to the emperor, despite their relatively small size, like the ruler's bodyguards , they were called schola . As early as the 6th century, however, their actual importance declined again and was finally reduced to purely ceremonial tasks.

In the tactics of Leo VI. the silentiarius appears only as a title, no longer as an office. The last mention of a bearer dates back to the reign of Emperor Nikephoros II (963–969), the name possibly existed until the 11th and 12th centuries.

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