Contents

Logothetes tou stratiotikou

History and functions[edit]

This duty was originally exercised by the praetorian prefecture, but the military chest (το στρατιωτικόν, to stratiotikon) was eventually detached and formed as a separate logothesion (department). The first attested logothetes tou stratiotikou was Julian, the "most glorious apo hypaton and patrikios" in 680.^[1][2]

The exact sphere of duties of the Military Logothete is somewhat obscure. The only direct evidence as to his functions comes from the De Ceremoniis of Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (r. 913–959), according to which he oversaw the imposition and exemption from taxes on the households of soldiers. It is also known that by the 11th century, he exercised some juridical functions.^[2] Several scholars (notably Ernst Stein) have argued that the Military Logothete supervised military affairs in general, such as the levying of troops, the construction of fortifications and the overall military expenditure. This hypothesis, however, cannot be proved.^[2]

Subordinate officials[edit]

The subordinates of the logothetes tou stratiotikou were:

• The chartoularioi of the sekreton (χαρτουλάριοι τοῦ σεκρέτου), the senior subaltern officials of the department.^[1]
• The chartoularioi of the themata (χαρτουλάριοι τῶν θεμάτων) and the tagmata (χαρτουλάριοι τῶν ταγμάτων), supervising the financial affairs of the thematic troops and the imperial tagmata, respectively.^[1]
• A number of legatarioi (λεγατάριοι), whose exact function is unknown.^[3][4]
• The optiones (ὀπτίονες, from Latin optio), officials responsible for the distribution of pay to the troops.^[4]
• A number of kankellarioi under a protokankellarios.^[4]
• A number of mandatores ('messengers').^[4]

List of known logothetai tou stratiotikou[edit]

Rodolphe Guilland also lists some 6th-century officials, who served under Justinian I and were in charge of the army pay chest, as predecessors of the later office of logothetes tou stratiotikou: Alexander "Scissors", active in Greece and Italy in c. 540–541;^[11][12] the patrikios and former praetorian prefect Archelaus, who accompanied Belisarius as his quartermaster in the Vandalic War;^[11][13] and the senator Symmachus, who was sent to Africa as praetorian prefect and quartermaster for Germanus in 536–539.^[6][14]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

• Bury, J. B. (1911). The Imperial Administrative System of the Ninth Century – With a Revised Text of the Kletorologion of Philotheos. London: Oxford University Press. OCLC 1046639111.
• Guilland, Rodolphe (1971). "Les Logothètes: Etudes sur l'histoire administrative de l'Empire byzantin" [The Logothetes: Studies on the Administrative History of the Byzantine Empire]. Revue des études byzantines (in French). 29: 5–115. doi:10.3406/rebyz.1971.1441.
• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
• Martindale, John R., ed. (1980). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume II, AD 395–527. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20159-4.
• Martindale, John R., ed. (1992). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume III, AD 527–641. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20160-8.
• Trapp, Erich; Beyer, Hans-Veit; Walther, Rainer; Sturm-Schnabl, Katja; Kislinger, Ewald; Leontiadis, Ioannis; Kaplaneres, Sokrates (1976–1996). Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit (in German). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 3-7001-3003-1.