The ''nipsistiarios'' ( el, νιψιστιάριος) was a

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 ...

court position and rank reserved for

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. The office is first attested in a 7th-century seal, but was abandoned well before the 14th century, since it is not mentioned in the ''Book of Offices'' of

pseudo-Kodinos George Kodinos or Codinus ( el, Γεώργιος Κωδινός), also Pseudo-Kodinos, ''kouropalates'' in the Byzantine court, is the reputed 14th-century author of three extant works in late Byzantine literature. Their attribution to him is mere ...

.. As his name shows (from Greek νίπτειν, "to wash hands"), the ''nipsistiarios'' was tasked with holding a gold, gem-encrusted water basin and assisting the Byzantine emperor in performing the ritual ablutions before he exited the imperial palace or performed ceremonies. According to the '' Klētorologion'' of 899, his insigne of office was a ''kamision'' (

tunic A tunic is a garment for the body, usually simple in style, reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the knees. The name derives from the Latin ''tunica'', the basic garment worn by both men and women in Ancient Rome ...

) embroidered with the figure of a basin in purple.. In the ''Klētorologion'', he ranks as the lowest in the hierarchy of the specifically eunuch dignities, below the ''

koubikoularios ''Cubicularius'', Hellenized as ''koubikoularios'' ( gr, κουβικουλάριος), was a title used for the eunuch chamberlains of the imperial palace in the later Roman Empire and in the Byzantine Empire. The feminine version, used for the l ...

'', but in the 10th century, there is a reference to the eunuch

Samonas Samonas ( el, , 875 – after 908) was an Arab-born eunuch, who was captured by the Byzantines and became one of the most influential officials of the Byzantine Empire during the first decade of the 10th century. Biography Samonas was born in c ...

being promoted from ''koubikoularios'' to ''nipsistiarios''.

References

Sources

* * {{ODB , last=Kazhdan , first=Alexander , authorlink=Alexander Kazhdan , title = Nipsistiarios , page = 1488 Byzantine court titles Byzantine palace offices Byzantine titles and offices reserved for eunuchs