''Ostiarios'' ( el, , from the Latin ''ostiarius'', "doorkeeper,
usher") 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 dignity 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 millenni ...
palace officials.
History and functions
The ''
Patria of Constantinople The ''Patria'' of Constantinople ( el, Πάτρια Κωνσταντινουπόλεως), also regularly referred to by the Latin name ''Scriptores originum Constantinopolitarum'' ("writers on the origins of Constantinople"), are a Byzantine collec ...
'' mention an ''ostiarios'' named Antiochos in the 6th century at the time of Emperor
Justinian I
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renova ...
(r. 527–565), and a 7th-century seal records an ''ostiarios'' and ''koubikoularios'' (servant of the imperial bedchamber).
[.][.] As a pure dignity, to be held alongside proper offices, the ''ostiarios'' is first recorded in historical sources for the year 787. By this time, the title seems to have become firmly established as a dignity, although there is still mention of it being an active function, such as in Philotheos's ''
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 of an "imperial ''ostiarios''" performing the duties of an usher.
The dignity was an awarded title (διὰ βραβείου ἀξία, ''dia brabeiou axia''), with a gold band with a jewelled handle as its characteristic insigne, whose award (βραβείον, ''brabeion'') also conferred the dignity. It was the fourth-lowest dignity for eunuchs, above the ''
spatharokoubikoularios'' and below the ''
primikerios The Latin term ''primicerius'', hellenized as ''primikērios'' ( el, πριμικήριος), was a title applied in the later Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire to the heads of administrative departments, and also used by the Church to denote t ...
'', and was reserved specifically for them.
[.] It was most frequently awarded to mid-level civil functionaries, such as the ''
protonotarioi''.
The dignity is last mentioned in 1086.
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 ...
concludes that it must have disappeared by the end of the 11th century, although another ''ostiarios'' is mentioned in 1174 and some seals have been dated to the 12th and possibly even the 13th century.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*{{cite book, last=Oikonomides, first=Nicolas, authorlink=Nicolas Oikonomides, title=Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles, location=Paris, publisher=Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique , year=1972 , language=fr , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RFdmAAAAMAAJ
Byzantine palace offices
Byzantine titles and offices reserved for eunuchs
Byzantine court titles