De Ceremoniis

I 17 (Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek) was partially revised later under Nikephoros II (963-969), perhaps under the supervision of Basil Lekapenos, the imperial parakoimomenos, and it also contains earlier descriptions of the 6th century.

[1] One of the book's appendices are the Three Treatises on Imperial Military Expeditions, a war manual written by Constantine VII for his son and successor, Romanos II.

often extended over many days), while chapters 38-83 describe secular ceremonies or rites of passage like coronations (38-40), weddings (39,41), births (42), funerals (60), or the celebration of war triumphs during feasts at the Hippodrome like Lupercalia (73).

[2] These protocols gave rules for imperial progresses to and from certain churches at Constantinople and the imperial palace,[3] with fixed stations and rules for ritual actions and acclamations from specified participants (the text of acclamations and processional troparia or kontakia, but also heirmoi and stichera are mentioned), among them also ministers, senate members, leaders of the "Blues" and the "Greens" during the hippodrome's horse races who had an important role during court ceremonies.

The "palace order" prescribes the conveyances required for movement (i.e. on foot, mounted, by boat), as well as the participants’ costumes and acclamations, some of which were debased Latin, which had not been an administrative language for more than three centuries.

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in a 945 carved ivory.
Map of the Great Palace situated between the Hippodrome and the Hagia Sophia. The structures of the Great Palace are shown in their approximate position as derived from literary sources. Surviving structures are in black.