Byzantine bureaucracy and aristocracy
Throughout the fifth century, Hellenistic political systems, philosophies, and theocratic Christian-Eastern concepts had gained power in the Greek-speaking Eastern Mediterranean due to the intervention of important religious figures there such as Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260 – c. 339) and Origen of Alexandria (c. 185 – c. 253) who had been key to developing the constant Christianized worldview of late antiquity.
[8] In practice, imperial power was exercised as administration—simplified and centralized through viceroys such as the Exarchos, Douk, Katepánō, Kephalai and the Strategoi who enjoyed the same omnipotence and the emperor's God given divinity in their respective governorships.
The absence of codified succession laws and procedures, as well as the militarized state of the Empire, led to numerous coups and revolts, leading to several disastrous results, such as the 1071 defeat at Manzikert.
Applying Orthodox-Hellenistic political schemes, the monarch's household was the sacred kingdom Oikonomia, and he was its Christ-loving owner and manager Oikonomos, which meant that no individual or institution through the history of the empire truly owned any land in the face of state supreme ownership.
[10] Following the transformation of the Byzantine state during the 7th century due to massive territorial loss to the Muslim conquests, this early structuring came to be replaced by the thematic military system whose functions had been simplified and specialized in the rapid creation of provincial armies.
Influenced by Orthodox kingship and Hellenistic theocratic philosophies, power was relegated to military leaders, with the various Strategoi, Katepan, Douk, Kephalai or Exarch each acting as viceroys in their respective "thémata" or governorships, all being appointed by the sovereign directly.
[12] These governors, being the direct representatives of the monarch himself all through the provinces, enjoyed an omnipotence of their own, accompanied by the divine attributes for being deputies of the emperor himself in their respective districts.
[14] Due to the lack of action or large-scale battles in the thematas of mainland Greece, by the 12th century most of these came to be governed directly by the Megas doux, under him the Krites or Archons of the various coastal cities.
The themes, now made up of several Archontates, was accommodated and repurposed solely for the income and maintenance of the Byzantine navy, fulfilling a tax supporting role largely in contrast from the more active and military themas of Strategos and Katepanos focussed in Asia Minor.
A senatorial class remained in place, which incorporated a large part of the upper officialdom; every official from the rank of protospatharios (literally "first sword-bearer"; originally the head of the Emperor's bodyguards) was considered a member of it.
[citation needed] These were the main source of a constant and rapid revenue that ultimately derived from the earlier Hellenistic fiscal and administrative principle of "epibole".
[clarification needed][16] Epibole had served as an accessible tool for the Hellenistic kingdoms for the simple income and rapid collection of taxes by deputies towards various rural communities in the war-time Hellenistic period, after having been adopted and adapted from the late Roman and early Byzantine province of Egypt, which had kept its own former fixed fiscal system, proving this measure to be an indirect consequence of the multiple wars and invasions that Byzantium had to deal throughout its history.
[17][failed verification] After the reforms of Alexios I, the system underwent various changes in which, due to the desperate state of the empire and the urgent need for income to finance its military campaigns and strengthen its borders, several simplifications and concessions were made.
This trend culminated in the eventual disappearance of the fiscal individuality that each commune or town had enjoyed, something which emperors like Basil II had fought and delayed with special taxes such as the allelengyon.
The catastrophic losses in the latter 11th century again prompted a reorganization of the imperial administrative system, at the hands of the new Komnenos dynasty: the older offices and titles fell gradually into disuse, while an array of new honorifics emerged, which signified primarily the closeness of their recipient's familial relationship to the Emperor.
[20] Finally, in the Palaiologan system as reported by pseudo-Kodinos, one can discern the accumulated nomenclature of centuries, with formerly high ranks having been devalued and others taking their place, and the old distinction between office and dignity having vanished.
[citation needed] Eunuchs also participated in court life, typically serving as attendants to noble women or assisting the emperor when he took part in religious ceremonies or removed his crown.
