The ''mandatōr'' ( el, μανδάτωρ), deriving from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word for "messenger", was a subaltern official in the middle

Byzantine Empire 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 ...

History and functions

The ''mandatores'' were a corps of messengers for special duties attached to the bureaux of all senior civil and military officials, such as the thematic '' stratēgoi'', the commanders of the '' tagmata'', the

logothete Logothete ( el, λογοθέτης, ''logothétēs'', pl. λογοθέται, ''logothétai''; Med. la, logotheta, pl. ''logothetae''; bg, логотет; it, logoteta; ro, logofăt; sr, логотет, ''logotet'') was an administrative title ...

s and others. They were then headed by a ''prōtomandatōr'' (πρωτομανδάτωρ, "first ''mandatōr''"), a mid-level official.. These officials must be distinguished from the honorary dignity of ''basilikos mandatōr'' (βασιλικὸς μανδάτωρ, "imperial ''mandatōr''"), which was one of the lower court titles (fourth from the bottom, between the '' vestētōr'' and the '' kandidatos'') intended for "bearded men" (i.e. non-

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...

s). According to the '' Klētorologion'' of 899, its insigne was a red

wand A wand is a thin, light-weight rod that is held with one hand, and is traditionally made of wood, but may also be made of other materials, such as metal or plastic. Long versions of wands are often styled in forms of staves or sceptres, which c ...

. Together with the other lower rank classes, the ''basilikoi mandatores'' were designated as the '' basilikoi anthrōpoi'' ("the emperor's men"), and headed collectively by a dedicated official with the title of '' prōtospatharios tōn basilikōn''. Both the simple ''mandatores'' and the ''basilikoi mandatores'', as well as the ''prōtomandatores'', are attested in the 7th–11th centuries. They seem to have disappeared thereafter. The French

Byzantinist Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music, science, economy, coinage and politics of the Eastern Roman Empire. T ...

Rodolphe Guilland Rodolphe Joseph Guilland (Lons-le-Saunier, 1888 – Saint-Marcellin, Isère, 5 October 1981) was a French Byzantinist. Life Born in 1888, he completed his thesis on Nikephoros Gregoras (a biography in 1926, and his edited correspondence in 1927), a ...

suggested that they were replaced by the '' tzaousioi''.. The term itself survived however in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, where "მანდატური" (mandaturi) serves as a term for security forces serving in Parliament, courts as well as public schools.

References

Sources

* * *{{Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, ref={{harvid, ODB Byzantine administrative offices Byzantine military offices