The ''paraphylax'' ( el, παραφύλαξ, "chief guardian") was a low-ranking provincial military office 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 ...

. The ''paraphylax'' is often attested in lead seals of the 7th–9th centuries, and mentioned in lists of offices. The post was low-ranking (bearers typically held the dignities of ''

hypatos ''Hypatos'' ( gr, ὕπατος; plural: , ''hypatoi'') and the variant ''apo hypatōn'' (, "former ''hypatos''", literally: "from among the consuls") was a Byzantine court dignity, originally the Greek translation of Latin ''consul'' (the litera ...

'', ''

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

'', or, at most, ''

spatharios The ''spatharii'' or ''spatharioi'' (singular: la, spatharius; el, σπαθάριος, literally "spatha-bearer") were a class of Late Roman imperial bodyguards in the court in Constantinople in the 5th–6th centuries, later becoming a purely ho ...

''), and apparently concerned with the maintenance of public order and/or the command of irregular forces. In seals, the office is frequently combined with provincial fiscal posts as well, such as the ''

kommerkiarios The ''kommerkiarios'' (Greek: κομμερκιάριος) was a fiscal official of the Byzantine Empire charged with the collection of the imperial sales tax or ''kommerkion''. History and functions The ''kommerkiarios'' was perhaps the successor o ...

'' or the ''

chartoularios The ''chartoularios'' or ''chartularius'' ( el, χαρτουλάριος), Anglicized as chartulary, was a late Roman and Byzantine administrative official, entrusted with administrative and fiscal duties, either as a subaltern official of a depar ...

'' of the '' genikon''.

Sources

* Byzantine military offices {{Byzantine-stub