Discussion Pages

Ducat: Two types of coin from the duchy of Venice: (1) the thirteenthand early fourteenth-century...

Doux: Originally in the later Roman period a commander of a military unit; commander of a unit of...

Strategos: A general; in Byzantine times usually the governor of a military district or thema, an...

Autokrator: Greek equivalent of the Latin imperator, emperor, used especially after the 7th centu...

Theotokos ‘god-bearing’ (from theos ‘god’ and tokos ‘bringing forth’): description of the Virgin ...

Sasanians: Persian ruling dynasty which overthrew the Parthian Arsacid dynasty in the early third...

Gastald: Lombard royal official in Italy in charge of a gastaldate, with civil and military power...

Circus factions: associations that staged circus games; fervent supporters’ associations of one o...

Aktemon: A peasant with no property, no oxen or plough.

Demesne: Western form of land tenure, referring to the lands retained by a lord for his own use (...

Caesar: Title given to a junior emperor or – from the eleventh century onwards – to imperial rela...

Synodikon: An inventory in a church or monastery that registered items donated and the commemorat...

Praetorian Prefecture: The largest administrative unit of the empire from the time of Constantine...

Stratiotes: A soldier; by derivation from the 10th century a holder of “military” land, subject t...

Ekklesiarches: The sacristan of a church, responsible for preparing for services by setting out t...

Bailo (s.), Baili (pl.): general term for administrator; head of the Venetian colony in Constanti...

Confederation of Turkicspeaking peoples who dominated the Black Sea steppes from the glossary mid...

tribunus (s.), tribuni (pl.): term for indigenous local rulers in southern Italy, which fell out ...

Scriptorium: A writing bureau or clerical copying establishment, usually associated with a monast...