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Papias (Byzantine Office)
The ( grc-gre, παπίας) was a eunuch official in the Byzantine court, responsible for the security and maintenance of the buildings of the imperial palaces in Constantinople. He commanded an extensive staff and performed in important role in palace ceremonies. In the Palaiologan period, the honorary title of ('grand ') was created and awarded to senior aristocrats. History and role The term is etymologically connected to or (). It is first attested in a seal dated to circa 550–650, and next recorded in the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor for the year 780.. There were three , all eunuchs: one for the Great Palace itself (, ), and two others for its adjuncts, the Magnaura and the palace of Daphne (the and ). The latter was created by Emperor Michael III (), while the former is attested only in Philotheos's ''Kletorologion'' of 899. The of the Great Palace was a very important official. Often styled 'grand ' (, ), and usually holding the rank of , he was the concier ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eunuch (court Official)
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 BCE. Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures: courtiers or equivalent domestics, for espionage or clandestine operations, castrato singers, concubines, or sexual partners, religious specialists, soldiers, royal guards, government officials, and guardians of women or harem servants. Eunuchs would usually be servants or slaves who had been castrated to make them less threatening servants of a royal court where physical access to the ruler could wield great influence. Seemingly lowly domestic functions—such as making the ruler's bed, bathing him, cutting his hair, carrying him in his litter, or even relaying messages—could, in theory, give a eunuch "the ruler's ear" and impa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chrysotriklinos
The Chrysotriklinos ( el, Χρυσοτρίκλινος, "golden reception hall", cf. ''triclinium''), Latinized as Chrysotriclinus or Chrysotriclinium, was the main reception and ceremonial hall of the Great Palace of Constantinople from its construction, in the late 6th century, until the 10th century. Its appearance is known only through literary descriptions, chiefly the 10th-century '' De Ceremoniis'', a collection of imperial ceremonies, but, as the chief symbol of imperial power, it inspired the construction of Charlemagne's Palatine Chapel in Aachen. History and functions The hall is usually attributed to Emperor Justin II (r. 565–578), with his successor, Tiberius II (r. 578–582) finishing it and carrying out its decoration.Cormack (2007), p. 304 However, Byzantine sources present conflicting accounts: the '' Suda'' encyclopedia attributes the building to Justin I (r. 518–527), and the ''Patria of Constantinople'' to the Emperor Marcian (r. 450–457), although ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byzantine Palace Offices
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 Constantinople. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. The terms "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" were coined after the end of the realm; its citizens continued to refer to their empire as the Roman Empire, and to themselves as Romans—a term which Greeks continued to use for themselves into Ottoman times. Although the Roman state continued and its traditions were maintained, modern historians prefer to differentiate the Byzantine Empire from Ancient Rome a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Athens. He studied in the University of Athens from 1951 to 1956, under the tutelage of Byzantinist Dionysios Zakythinos. After obtaining his degree, in 1958 he went to Paris to pursue doctoral studies under Paul Lemerle. His studies in Paris also introduced him to sigillography, and led to the discovery of the so-called ''Escorial Taktikon'' or ''Taktikon Oikonomides''. The outcome of his work on ''Escorial Taktikon'' and the other '' Taktika'' (seating lists in Byzantine imperial banquets) was published in 1972, as the ''Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècle'', containing a translation and commentary on the ''Taktika''. Oikonomides returned to Greece, but the establishment of the dictatorial Regime of the Colonels in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caldarium
230px, Caldarium from the Roman Baths at Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the empty space where the hot air flowed through to heat the floor. A caldarium (also called a calidarium, cella caldaria or cella coctilium) was a room with a hot plunge bath, used in a Roman bath complex. This was a very hot and steamy room heated by a hypocaust, an underfloor heating system using tunnels with hot air, heated by a furnace tended by slaves. This was the hottest room in the regular sequence of bathing rooms; after the caldarium, bathers would progress back through the warm bathroom to the cold water room. In the caldarium, there would be a bath (alveus, piscina calida or solium) of hot water sunk into the floor and there was sometimes even a laconicum—a hot, dry area for inducing sweating. The bath's patrons would use olive oil to cleanse themselves by applying it to their bodies and using a strigil to remove the excess. This was sometimes left on the floor for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bathing
Bathing is the act of washing the body, usually with water, or the immersion of the body in water. It may be practiced for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes. By analogy, especially as a recreational activity, the term is also applied to sun bathing and sea bathing. People bathe at a range of temperatures, according to custom or purpose, from very cold to very hot. In the western world, bathing is usually done at comfortable temperatures in a bathtub or shower. This type of bathing is done more or less daily for hygiene purposes. A ritual religious bath is sometimes referred to as immersion or baptism. The use of water for therapeutic purposes can be called a water treatment or hydrotherapy. Recreational water activities are also known as swimming and paddling. History Ancient world Throughout history, societies devised systems to enable water to be brought to population centers. The oldest accountable daily ritual of bathing can be traced to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ''domestikoi'' trace their ancestry to the ''protectores domestici'' guard unit of the Late Roman army, established in the late 3rd century. These were a corps of men that served as a staff to the Roman emperors, while also functioning as an officer school. These continued in existence in the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire until the late 6th century. In the Byzantine army, the old ''protectores domestici'' had vanished by the 7th century, and the name only remained as a title associated with certain guard units. Following the creation of the '' tagmata'' in the mid-8th century, four of them, the ''Scholai'', the ''Exkoubitoi'', the ''Hikanatoi'' and the ''Noumeroi'', as well as, uniquely, the '' thema'' of the Optimatoi, were led by a ''domest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Furniture
Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furniture is also used to hold objects at a convenient height for work (as horizontal surfaces above the ground, such as tables and desks), or to store things (e.g., cupboards, shelves, and drawers). Furniture can be a product of design and can be considered a form of decorative art. In addition to furniture's functional role, it can serve a symbolic or religious purpose. It can be made from a vast multitude of materials, including metal, plastic, and wood. Furniture can be made using a variety of woodworking joints which often reflects the local culture. People have been using natural objects, such as tree stumps, rocks and moss, as furniture since the beginning of human civilization and continues today in some households/campsites. Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kabbadion
The ''kabbadion'' ( el, καββάδιον) was a caftan-like garment of oriental origin which became a standard part of court costume in the last centuries of the Byzantine Empire. The first known reference to the ''kabbadion'' occurs in the ''Kletorologion'' of 899, where it is mentioned as the dress of the barbarian (''ethnikoi'') members of the Emperor's bodyguard, the ''Hetaireia''. It re-appears in the mid-14th century in the ''Book of Offices'' of pseudo-Kodinos as the standard ceremonial dress for almost all court members. Kodinos describes it as an "Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...n" garment adopted by the Persians, clearly indicating a provenance from the Islamic world. It is therefore usually equated with the long, caftan-like and full-sleeved tu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embroidery
Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen on caps, hats, coats, overlays, blankets, dress shirts, denim, dresses, stockings, scarfs, and golf shirts. Embroidery is available in a wide variety of thread or yarn colour. Some of the basic techniques or stitches of the earliest embroidery are chain stitch, buttonhole or blanket stitch, running stitch, satin stitch, and cross stitch. Those stitches remain the fundamental techniques of hand embroidery today. History Origins The process used to tailor, patch, mend and reinforce cloth fostered the development of sewing techniques, and the decorative possibilities of sewing led to the art of embroidery. Indeed, the remarkable stability of basic embroidery stitches has been noted: The art of embroidery has been found worldwide and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sceptre
A sceptre is a staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia. Figuratively, it means royal or imperial authority or sovereignty. Antiquity Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia The ''Was'' and other types of staves were signs of authority in Ancient Egypt. For this reason they are often described as "sceptres", even if they are full-length staffs. One of the earliest royal sceptres was discovered in the 2nd Dynasty tomb of Khasekhemwy in Abydos. Kings were also known to carry a staff, and Pharaoh Anedjib is shown on stone vessels carrying a so-called ''mks''-staff. The staff with the longest history seems to be the ''heqa''-sceptre (the "shepherd's crook"). The sceptre also assumed a central role in the Mesopotamian world, and was in most cases part of the royal insignia of sovereigns and gods. This is valid throughout the whole Mesopotamian history, as illustrated by both literary and administrative texts and iconography. The M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 merely a matter of convenience, two of them being anonymous in the manuscripts. Οf Kodinos himself nothing is known; it is supposed that he lived towards the end of the 14th century. The works referred to are the following: #''Patria'' (Πάτρια Κωνσταντινουπόλεως), treating of the history, topography, and monuments of Constantinople. It is divided into five sections: (a) the foundation of the city; (b) its situation, limits and topography; (c) its statues, works of art, and other notable sights; (d) its buildings; (e) and the construction of the Hagia Sophia. It was written in the reign of Basil II (976-1025), revised and rearranged under Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118), and perhaps copied by Codinus, whose name it bear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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