The term ''basilikoi anthropoi'' ( el, βασιλικοί ἄνθρωποι, "the

imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...

men") appears in

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

documents of the 9th–10th centuries and has two distinct meanings: * as a generic term, it is used by the manuals on court ceremony like the ''

Kletorologion The ''Klētorologion'' of Philotheos ( el, Κλητορολόγιον), is the longest and most important of the Byzantine lists of offices and court precedence ('' Taktika'').. It was published in September 899 during the reign of Emperor Leo VI ...

'' of 899 to indicate the highest-ranking imperial functionaries * as a more technical term, it referred to a rather lowly class of imperial servants which possibly constituted a special military detachment. The latter group included holders of minor dignities like ''

strator Α ''strator'' ( el, στράτωρ) was a position in the Roman and Byzantine militaries roughly equivalent to a groom. The word is derived from Latin ''sternere'' ("to strew", i.e. hay, straw). The ''strator'' (in Greek narrative sources often r ...

es'' and '' spatharokandidatoi'' and was headed by the ''

protospatharios ''Prōtospatharios'' ( el, πρωτοσπαθάριος) was one of the highest court dignities of the middle Byzantine period (8th to 12th centuries), awarded to senior generals and provincial governors, as well as to foreign princes. History Th ...

'' of the ''basilikoi anthropoi'', later (in the '' De Ceremoniis'' and the ''

Escorial Taktikon The ''Escorial Taktikon'' (other spellings: ''Escurial Taktikon'', ''Escorial Tacticon'', ''Escurial Tacticon''), also known as the ''Taktikon Oikonomides'' after Nicolas Oikonomides who first edited it, is a list of Byzantine offices, dignities, ...

'') also called the ''

katepano The ''katepánō'' ( el, κατεπάνω, lit. " he oneplaced at the top", or " the topmost") was a senior Byzantine military rank and office. The word was Latinized as ''capetanus/catepan'', and its meaning seems to have merged with that of th ...

'' of the ''basilikoi''. He was aided by a ''

domestikos ''Domestikos'' (; el, δομέστικος, from the la, domesticus, , of the household), in English sometimes heDomestic, was a civil, ecclesiastic and military office in the late Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. Military usage The ''dom ...

'' and his staff included "'' kandidatoi'' of the Hippodrome", ''basilikoi

mandator The ''mandatōr'' ( el, μανδάτωρ), deriving from the Latin word for "messenger", was a subaltern official in the middle Byzantine Empire. History and functions The ''mandatores'' were a corps of messengers for special duties attached to the ...

es'' and '' spatharioi'', the latter of whom sometimes appear to participate in military actions, which led

Nicolas Oikonomides Nikolaos or Nikos Oikonomides ( el, Νικόλαος Οικονομίδης, 14 February 1934 – 31 May 2000) was a Greek Byzantinist, and one of the leading experts in the field of Byzantine administration. Biography Oikonomides was born in ...

to suggest that the ''basilikoi anthropoi'' may have formed a distinct military unit. Several of the lower ranks of this corps seem to have been foreigners, including

Khazars The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...

, Arabs,

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

etc.

References

Sources

* Byzantine titles and offices Military units and formations of the Byzantine Empire Greek words and phrases {{italic title