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[German version] The Republican office of consul (Greek ὕπατος, hýpatos) apparently continued under Augustus and his successors, but de facto, until AD 541, only as an honorary title, that after 541 was reserved exclusively for the ruling (east Roman) emperor (until the 7th cent.). As early as from the 7th cent. …

[German version] (Σεβαστός/ Sebastós). Originally a Greek equivalent for the Latin title Augustus, was not introduced as a title in the Byzantine court until the 11th century AD; after 1081 it was conferred - al…

(Λυδός; Lydós). [German version] [1] Mythological king of Lydia Mythological king of Lydia, son of Atys [1], brother of Tyrsenus ( Tyrrhenus). Eponym of the Lydian people ( Lydia) (formerly Maeon: Hom. Il. 2,864): Hdt. 1,94; Str. 5,219; Tac. Ann. 4,55. According to Hdt. 1,171 L., Mysus and Car were brothers, which expresses the tribal kinship of the Lydians, Carians and Mysians ( Carian, Mysia). …

[German version] (παρακοιμώμενος / parakoimṓmenos, 'the one who sleeps nearby'). Senior imperial chamberlain, the highest-ranking court eunuch at Constantinople, probably succeeding the earlier praepositus sacri cubiculi; reliably attested only from AD 780; a highly influential office in the 9th-11th cents.…

[German version] (πρωτοστράτωρ; prōtostrátōr). Byzantine term, 8th-15th cents. AD, for the superintendent of the imperial grooms ('marshal'), who accompanied the emperor when riding. It was an influential position close to the emperor and was considered favourable for further advancement.…

[German version] Byzantine statesman, Armenian, brother of Theodora, mother of Emperor Michael III (AD 842-867). Bearer of the highest court title Caesar (καῖσαρ) since 862. He promoted the mission to the Slavs, founded a school for scientific studies in the imperial palace, furthered the elevation of the learned  Photius to patriarch. B. was murdered by the parvenu  Basilius [5] I, the founder of the Macedonian dynasty, on 21.4.866. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography LMA 1, 1456 ODB 1, 255f. P. Speck, Die kaiserliche Universität von Konstantinopel, 1974.

(Λεόντιος; Leóntios). [German version] [1] Ptolemaic commander of Seleucid Pieria, late 3rd cent. BC Ptolemaic commander of Seleucea Pieria; in 219 BC, he surrendered the city to Antiochus [5] III after initial resistance in a hopeless position. Ameling, Walter (Jena) [German version] [2] General of peltasts, 3rd cent. BC Macedonian, named general of peltasts by Antigonus [3] Doson in his will. Together with Megaleas, L. opposed the pro-Achaean politics of Philippus V and his mentor Aratus [2]; after inciting the elite troops against the king, L. wa…

Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) …

[German version] (Ἴλλος/ Íllos or Ἰλλοῦς/ Illoûs). Isaurian, high-ranking official and general in the East Roman Empire. In February AD 474, together with  Verina, widow of  Leo(n) [4], he supported the elevation of his compatriot  Zeno to the position of emperor, but as early as 475 he joined forces with Verina and the usurper  Basiliscus. After the defeat of Basiliscus in 476 he soon sided with Zeno again and in 477 became magister officiorum and patricius. At his instigation Verina, who together with Epinicus [2] had attempted to get rid of I. in 478, was exiled to Isauria. After escaping another assault in 480/81, Zeno appointed I. to the position of magister utriusque militiae per Orientem in 481, but because I. had arrested Zeno's b…

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[German version] Leader of a Thracian troupe of horsemen under  Belisarius against the Persians in AD 530. Since about 539, together with him magister militum per Orientem, he undertook the campaigns against the Persians in 541 and 542. According to Procopius, Historia arcana (reliable source?), he was recalled in 542 supposedly because of high treason, and was incarcerated for more than two years. In 554, he saved an army under general Bessas in Lazica (Colchis) from annihilation by the Persians. It is highly likely that he is identical with a B. who, together with other army commanders, was dispatched by  Justinian I in 549 with auxiliary troupes for the Lombards to fight against the Gepidae (PLRE 3 A, 254-257). Tinnefeld, Fr…

(πρόεδρος/ pró(h)edros, pl. πρόεδροι/ pró(h)edroi) denotes that person who (in a leading position) 'sits in front' ('chairman' or 'president'). [German version] I. Greece in the Classical and Hellenistic Periods…

(Νικηφόρος; Nikēphóros). [German version] [1] Patriarch of Constantinople, died 828…

[German version] [1] M. Daia Roman emperor, AD 305-313 Roman emperor, AD 305-313. The son of Galerius' [5] sister and like Galerius born in Dacia ripensis, possibly in Šarkamen (modern Serbia), he rose from protector to tribunus (Lactant. De mort. pers. 19,6); as Galerius' adoptive son he became Caesar in the change of rulers of 305 (thereafter: Galerius Valerius Maximinus). As co-ruler over the diocese Oriens he continued the persecutions of Christians (Euseb. Hist. eccl. 8,14,9). Like Constantin…

I Greek [German version] [I 1] Greek rhetor, prob. late 3rd/4th cent. (Τιβέριος/ Tibérios). Greek rhetor, probably of the late 3rd or 4th cents. AD, author of a small surviving treatise on figures (Περὶ τῶν παρὰ Δημοσθένει σχημάτων, Perì tòn parà Demosthénei schēmáton, 'On the figures in Demosthenes'), which uses Apsine…

[German version] [1] M. Valerius M. The poet Martial, epigrammatist in the 1st cent. the Roman poet Martial. Lausberg, Marion (Augsburg) [German version] A. Biography The epigrammatist M. was born between AD 38 and 41 (cf. Mart. 10,24: 57th birthday) in Bilbilis in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis. Around 64, he came to Rome (10,103), where he was probably at first promoted in the circle of Seneca. His poetic production…

[German version] (πρωτασηκρήτις/ prōtasēkrḗtis). Byzantine term for the office of chief of the imperial secretaries (singular ἀσηκρήτις/ asēkrḗtis, from Latin a secretis), used in the 6th-12th centuries AD. ODB 3, 1742. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)

[German version] (Ἑλικώνιος; Helikṓnios). From Byzantium, chronicler, known only from the Suda, wrote a χρονικὴ ἐπιτομή ( chronikḕ epitomḗ) from Adam up to emperor Theodosius I (Suda E 851). The Suda (A 3215 and 3868) quotes one note each from the chronicle on the lives of Apion and Arrian.…

(Ἰωάννης; Iōánnēs). Well-known persons i.a.: I. [1] the Evangelist, I. [4] Chrysostomos, bishop of Constantinople and Homilet, I. [18] Malalas, author of the world chronicle, I. [25] of Gaza, rhetor and poet, I. [33] of Damascus, the theologian, I. [39] Baptistes. [1] I. the Evangelist [German version]

[German version] A. Roman Republic and Imperial period Comes (from com-…