augusta
A formal title bestowed by an emperor on his wife, the empress, frequently after the birth of a son and heir. Rarely and extraordinary the title was bestowed on distinguished personages who belong to the emperor’s family.
|
caliph
The supreme religious and political authority of Muslims, considered successor of Muhammad (Arabic: khalifa = deputy). He was the head of the Caliphate, the religious state of the Arabs.
|
chrysobull
(gold seal) Imperial document of the Byzantine state which was so named because it bore the gold seal of the emperor.
|
domestikos ton scholon
Commander of the regiment of scholae. The first officer with this title appears in 767/8. In the 10th C the domesticos became very powerful among the army of the themata; in mid-10th C the office was divided in two, domestikoi ton scholon of the East and those of the West, commanders in chief of the eastern and the western provinces´ army respectively.
|
doukas (lat. dux)
Antiquity: Roman military commander who, in some provinces, combined military and civil functions.Buzantium: a higher military officer. From the second half of the 10th c. the title indicates the military comander of a larger district. After the 12th c., doukes were called the governors of small themes.
|
proedros
A high office of the Byzantine court, first known under Nikephoros II Phokas. The responsibilities of the proedros are rather uncertain. In the 11th c. the title was accorded oftenly, but it disapears after the 12th c. As an ecclesiastical office, proedros was equal to a metropolitan and was accorded to the regent metropolitan of a bishopric or a metropolitan see, until the election of a hierarch there.
|
vestarches
Byzantine honorary title, which is first mentioned in the 10th c. Taktikon of Escurial. Originally the title was exclusively bestowed upon eunuchs, but from the fifth decade of the 11th c. it was granted to non-eunuchs as well. During the 11th c. the title was conferred to various distinguished generals. After the beginning of the 12th c. the title seems to have disappeared.
|