De cerimoniis aulae Byzantinae, lib1.-192
procession, in which the masters are about to come forth, and all the public roads leading there, in which the masters are about to pass through, to a
of the Augusteum stand the nipsistiarioi, carrying the gold and precious-stone-encrusted hand-washing basins, and the masters stand at the Golden Hand
At the same tribunal, on the right and on the left, stand near the lamps from the demes and beyond them the gentiles who happen to be present at that
crucifixion, and venerating the patriarch, they take their leave of him, and they enter into the oratory which is before the metatorion, and there thr
of them and the rest of the 1.15 reception is carried out as has been said before. And again a second reception takes place at the outside of the cas
they change their divetesia in the koiton of Daphne, when all of the senate have been assembled in the portico of the great triclinium of the Nineteen
the masters put on the lōroi and are crowned by the praepositi, taking in the right hand the akakia, and in the left the golden crosses adorned with s
column of the Forum, and the masters indeed stand on the steps of the great 1.23 porphyry column, while the magistri and proconsuls and patricians and
the praepositus of the ceremony says: Give the order. And indeed when the senators are exiting, the masters also exit with them, and mount their hor
as the lords are passing by [as has been said before, they acclaim the factions] and acclaiming the things appropriate to the feast. For the lords do
the criers say the acclamation, tone 1: He who is motherless in heaven is born fatherless upon the earth. The acts of acclamation are sung by both
1.35 3rd Feast of the Lights.
inaugurating the resurrection for the dead may He Himself raise your horn, O masters, in victories against the barbarians. Reception 6, of the Blues
the people likewise for the third time: O, You who are, our risen God, guard the masters. The chanters: All-holy Spirit, protect the Augustas. And
of the Reds. And the acclamations of praise are sung by both the criers and the people, just as in the other receptions. 6th reception, in the bakery
Great and venerable Spirit, who is glorified above with the Father as Lord of all, being in sacred converse with the Hebrews, teaches Wisdom to gush
Reception 10, in the bakers' arcade. Returning, the demarch of the Greens with the deme of the Reds, holds a reception there. Reception 11, in the For
benefactors, at the descent of the Spirit, He has placed from heaven a sanctified crown upon your precious heads wherefore we beseech him unceasingly
of the praepositus, and he comes forth, holding in his right hand an anexikakia, and in his left a scepter resting upon his shoulder, and he passes th
he gives the candle to the praepositus, and he places it upon the solea near the holy doors, on the right side, and the emperor stands near the same c
the cantors and the paramonarioi, and then they enter inside the curtain hanging at the Holy Well. And the praepositus, taking the crown, gives it to
are clothed in cloaks with golden tablia, and the spatharocubicularii their swords. When the palace opens, all of the cubiculum enter through the Pass
in the processional candelabra and the cross goes up and stands at the base behind the emperor, in front of the gate of the church. And the patriarch
When the time of the divine communion has arrived, two silentiaries go by order, and summon the patriarch, and the patriarch, being supported by them,
of cataphracts, and all of them in genuine sagia. Likewise the spatharokandidatoi also ride together with the spatharioi, and they ride on caparisoned
of the faction of the Greens, and they receive the emperor in the Forum of the Peraean Greens, they receive the emperor in the paved area of the Milio
of Justinian and stands in the first omphalion of the same triclinium. The patricians and generals having gathered there and the rest of the senate, a
the procession enters into the Justinianos. And the emperor puts on a `divetesion` and a `tzitzakion` and stands in the Chrysotriklinos in the exiting
holding in his hand a golden, jeweled staff, and having prepared the first *vēlon*: metropolitans, he enters and stands at the threshold of the silver
of needs. And at the entrance for each course at the table, the emperor asks the patriarch to say the blessing. And the patriarch invites each metropo
in the temple of the Lord, wearing true *sagia*, both patricians and generals, *praepositi* and *ostiarii* and *primicerii*, and the eunuch *protospat
He meets the procession in the middle, and having lit 1.95 candles and prayed, he venerates the precious and life-giving cross and the immaculate Gosp
in the narthex outside the gate of the same spiral staircase, likewise also the officials of the cubiculum. And the praepositus, having received a sig
May God lead your reign for many and good years, and they exit. It is also necessary to know this, how many receptions the factions receive in this
The notarios of the same party begins to say the iambics of the feast. At the outer gate, the democrat of the Greens receives him, that is the domesti
each other, and the emperor departs to his bedchamber, but the patriarch, wherever he wishes. 1.106 28 (19) What must be observed on the eve of Saint
outside the holy doors, they receive candles from the praepositi, and through the threefold prostration they give thanks to God. Then entering into th
And when the 1.112 lords, according to custom, enter with the patriarch into the sanctuary, the patriarch enters first but the lords, standing outsid
he comes to the royal gates of the same oratory, that is, with the subdeacon carrying the processional cross. And the masters receive candles from the
of the praepositus, and having venerated the immaculate Gospel, he passes with the patriarch through the middle of the church, and in the right-hand p
when they have gone out, he is crowned by the praepositus and goes out through the Augustaion into the narrow passage, with bearded protospatharii sta
one another's hands, they proceed as far as the royal gates, and there the emperor, having stood, lights candles, and when the patriarch has completed
the faction of the Blues, with the demarch wearing a blue cloak, and they make their acclamations, as is their custom, acclaiming the emperor, likewis
When he entered, held by the *katepano* of the imperials and the *logothete* of the *dromos*, and having fallen down and prostrated himself before the
both greet each other, the emperor and the patriarch, the emperor departs to his bedchamber, and there, standing within the veil, he awaits the patria
to the emperor, and after making obeisance and kissing his feet, he rises, having prayed for the emperor, and the *tēs katastaseōs* takes hold of him,
good years. And this prayer is made, when the twelve-day period is completed.
both the emperor and the patriarch, go forth together and stand in the gate of the Great Church and the patriarch beginning the prayer of the entranc
of the spiral staircase, and from there by the silentiaries down to the bottom. The emperor passes the time after this as he commands and wishes. It m
happen to be on the same day in the city, likewise both the clerics of the Great Church and those of the outer churches, and whoever in all the monast
The masters venerate the holy table and the vestment, and ascending through the side of the sanctuary and the spiral staircase behind the conch into t
of Pharos, and after venerating the precious wood, they go out, and immediately by command a dismissal is given. And in the middle of the second hour,
of a litany, the government and the body of the clergy enter through the right gate of the royal gates, but the orphans and the metropolitans and the
of the Lord, they themselves also praying for the emperor. When the emperor has entered within the gate, the cubicularii secure the gate, they themsel
the order of the feast requires. When the hour arrives, the emperor changes into a divetesion and chlanis, and sits upon the senzon in the Chrysotrikl
of the single door leading to the Eidikon, and he descends the steps of the Lausiakos. But those of the senate, the spatharokandidatoi and those of th
of Stephen, there performing the 1.166 divine liturgy, [and if the emperor commands, the patricians are summoned]. And when the divine liturgy has bee
time, the emperor, putting on the pagan *divetesion* and the late-purple *chlanis*, and being escorted by the *praepositi* and the other officials of
a diaspron skaramangion with gold embroidery, and the invited friends also sit down, some in white skaramangia, others in colored ones, and immediatel
1.175 46 (37) One must know how the emperors change vestments on the feasts and in processions.
skaramangia, also putting on their swords and crowns, as they command, and after the Gospel they return on horseback with the chionmata. It is to be k
The people cry out: Holy, Holy, Holy. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace. A third time. Then: Many years to so-and-so, the great empero
criers: He who crowned you with His own hand The people likewise. The criers: May He multiply your years with the Augustae and the Porphy 2.5 rogen
all-holy. The chanters: One is the holy God, grant them concord. The people: One is the all-holy Spirit. The chanters: One is this kingdom, Lord
The Augusta wearing the maphorion, the patriarch says the customary prayers. And when he completes the prayer, they remove the Augusta's maphorion, an
likewise a third time. The criers: But the one who crowned you, so-and-so, with his own hand The people likewise a third time. The criers: may he k
the praepositus of the masters says: Give the order and they go out praying, and the patricians go to the Onopodion, and the consuls to the portico
It is necessary to know that the crowned emperor is crowned, and they go out crowned to the Golden Hand, and the patricians receive them in the Onopod
Purple gem-studded ones one of them the lady-in-waiting holds behind the Augusta, and two others on this side and that.
of the patriarch, and immediately the emperor speaks to the people, if he wishes anything, and if the people have anything to answer, they answer. And
criers: Arise, O servants of the Lord. The people, three times: Arise. The criers: Arise, so-and-so and so-and-so, Augustae of the Romans. The p
The entire senate is summoned, that they may come early with changes of clothing, and in the morning the entire senate and the dignitaries of the scho
Nobilissimus, the whole ceremony and procession is performed, as for the Caesar, likewise also the acclamations of the demes, but the chlamys placed u
of the katastasis and the chariots and the spatharioi bearing their weapons, and the patricians themselves fall down according to custom, and the prae
of the master and both knees, likewise also of the junior, and having risen he holds out his hands and receives from the masters the sticharion and th
of the two lords, and having taken the codicils, he kisses their hands, and he walks backwards, likewise the rest, however many there are, do thus, wh
on a Sunday and on Holy Saturday the senate is informed to wear the white cloaks with the dark ones, and before the masters go to the church, he hold
in the midst of the officials of the *cubiculum*, and spreading his hands out with his mantle, he does reverence to the emperor, not bending his knees
he summons him, and brings him in, wearing a purple sagion. Both the tēs katastaseōs and a silentiary hold him, and they stand him in the middle of th
the left side sits with equal honor, for the order so provides and they themselves, both the silentiaries and the soldiers, receive from the patricia
The patrician goes to the bench of the patricians, and puts on a true military cloak, and comes out from there, and mounts a horse, and goes to his ho
the one who wishes from the Phylax, where the polished, opposite gates are, and the praepositus leads her within the middle gates, and she only falls
The wives of the generals do obeisance to her, and they acclaim the sovereigns for the one who was promoted. And the patrician ladies depart, and the
Going out from the Augusteion, he passes through the narrow way and the prefect remains inside the gate that leads out to the Onopodion, but the praep
criers: As one who is pure and most worthy. The people: Welcome. The criers: But may the Maker and Master of all guard you, o prefect, for a mult
the appointed demarch, escorting him as far as the Consistorium. And the appointed one enters, and lights candles at the cross, and goes to the church
2.79 Ζ∆ʹ What must be observed, if the emperor commands two demarchs to be appointed at the same time.
2.82 67 (58) On the promotion of notaries. The masters give orders to the praepositus, and he goes out and seeks a silentiary, and sends him to see if
2.86 9 (61) What must be observed on the emperor's birthday, celebrated annually.
The criers say: Arise, the divinely inspired empire. And the people shout three times: Arise and the rest of the acclamations. And when the master
contracting. And the two factions say: Es. The criers: Nana. And the people. May God hear our voice. The criers: Many, many, many. The people:
praepositus to the silentiarius standing in the lower part of the same reception hall by command, and he says: Give the order and they acclaim the
to the emperor, what he was taught by the *tes katastaseos*, and the *tes katastaseos*, having received a sign from the *praepositus* by command, give
has been said. Then the emperor passes through the same portico, escorted by the chiefs of the cubiculum, patricians, and generals, and enters the Chr
Second Saximon. The faction of the Greens enters according to the aforementioned manner with the domestic of the excubitors and the teicheotes and the
them in the triclinium and having stood, the emperor is adored by the chiefs of the cubiculum, and the praepositus receives a sign to say more loudly:
of the attendance at each reception celebrated in the great phialai.
of the Apse and of the Daphne, lighting candles in the oratories, as is his custom. And passing through the Augusteion, he enters into Saint Stephen,
and being escorted by the officials of the cubiculum, he passes through, and they pray over him: For many and good years. And when the emperor has e
of the Red. And again the inspector says in a loud voice: Holy, Thrice-Holy and all answer and say: Victory to the 2.119 Blue (the Greens: to the
and they have honored you, a dearly desired servant, today with higher dignities as honorable protospatharios and worthily as demarch, so that you, O
Greens: The choice of the Trinity. The people, three times: Many years to you. The Greens Holy. The criers: Many years to you, so-and-so and so
three to the Heavenly One. (The Greens: To the Olympian.) And the people three times: Many years to you. The chanters: Lord, save the masters 2.12
criers: In this you will rule all the nations. The people three times: Holy. And while the organ plays the Trisagion, the criers say: Thrice-holy
to the Augustae and the Porphyrogennetoi. And the people three times: Lord, save. And then the criers say thus: We your servants have another requ
And again the criers say: Lord, save the masters of the Romans. The people three times: Lord, save them. The criers: Lord, save the masters with
a twelfth nomisma but if he wins in part, the distinction shall fall to the one being substituted for. 2.138 But if he also fails, he toils gaining n
both factionarii and micropanitae, and the overseers and the inspectors and the bigarii and the chiefs. And when these chiefs dare not speak a single
having received the consent from the emperor for the hippodrome races to be held, he goes out and departs to the thessarios, and gives him the final o
they likewise pile up vegetables and cakes, that is, on the day before the horse-race but this turn of the Greens is kept for rolling. And the two-ho
times. And then the *epi tēs katastaseōs*, taking the edge of the emperor’s chlamys and making it into a roll, presents it to the emperor. Thence the
2.152 One is God. The criers: You, save her. The people: Yes, Lord. The criers: He who helps the eparch. The people: One is God. The criers:
Many years to you, so-and-so and so-and-so, emperors of the Romans and the people, three times: Many years to you. The Greens: Holy one. The crie
royal, and may the Blue also increase. And then they escort the charioteers to the church, that is, the Blues to the [church] of Dagisteas, and the G
Give the dismissal signal and he says loudly: Dismissal. And the emperor enters the bedchamber, and is robed in his chlamys by the
2.164 ΠΒʹ (ΟΓʹ) Concerning the hippodrome of the macellum, so-called
This too must be known, that because the hippodrome is a pagan place, the great domestics do not go up to the demes, but the emperor, after giving the
and what follows.
2.175 87 (78) What must be observed on the day of the grape-harvest at
the eparch guards what is just, there also our God is hymned and glorified. Eis, God who raised Lazarus, guard the eparch. And so then he receives th
I have gathered from the field, and into the bridal chamber I have brought with haste a newly-wed sun I saw on a golden-honored bed they embraced ea
Nana he subjected all nations and the tyranny of the godless Hagia the Savior, good masters Nana may he enslave every enemy of yours before
De cerimoniis aulae Byzantinae, lib1.-192
Of Constantine, the Christ-loving and in Christ Himself the eternal emperor, emperor son of Leo the most wise and ever-memorable emperor, a certain composition and a work truly worthy of imperial diligence.
To some others, perhaps, this undertaking might have seemed superfluous, to those who have no such care for necessary things; but to us it is very dear and of great concern and more appropriate than all others, since through commendable order the imperial authority is shown to be more orderly and tends toward the more decorous, and for this reason is an object of admiration both to foreign nations and to our own people. For many things tend to perish with the passage of long time, as things done in it and consumed by it, and with them that great and precious thing, the exposition and outline of the imperial order, which if neglected and, so to speak, rendered moribund, the empire would be seen as truly unadorned and unseemly. For just as one might call a body not gracefully formed, but whose members are put together randomly and not harmoniously, a disorder; so also the imperial government, if not led and governed by order, will in no way differ from the life of a private and 1.2 common person. Therefore, so that this should not happen and we should not seem, by behaving in a disorderly fashion, to insult the imperial majesty, we thought it necessary to collect with diligent study from many sources all that was devised by our predecessors and reported by eyewitnesses and seen by ourselves and put into practice in our time, and to set it forth in the present elaborate work for easy comprehension, and to record for those after us the tradition of ancestral customs that have been neglected, and, as if plucking certain flowers from meadows, to set them beside the imperial splendor for incomparable seemliness, and to set up a sort of clear and newly-polished mirror in the midst of the palace, in which what is fitting for the imperial authority and what is worthy of the senatorial body might be observed, so that the reins of power may be managed in order and decorum. And so that what has been written may be clear and easy to understand, we have used a more common and simple style and the same words and names which were long ago applied to and spoken for each matter, by which the imperial power, being conducted with rhythm and order, might represent the harmony and motion of the creator concerning this universe, and might be seen by its subjects as more majestic, and for this reason more pleasing and more admirable, one must speak about each ceremony, how and in what manner it ought to be performed and completed.
1.3 1. What must be observed, when a procession is made in the Great Church, that is, the order and sequence of the solemn and distinguished processions, in which the emperors go to the Great Church.
One day before any most distinguished feast begins, the praepositi enter the Chrysotriklinos, during the daily procession, that is, and remind the emperors about the feast; then the emperors order them to prepare for the next day's prokensos, that is, procession. And going out they give orders to all those of the kouboukleion, likewise both to the katepano and to the domestikos of the imperial attendants, and along with these also to the two demarchs; and they also send mandates to the domestikos of the noumera and to the comes of the walls, and, simply put, they announce to all the tagmata and all the secreta concerning such a procession, so that each tagma and each secreton may prepare in advance what is appropriate for them according to their own rank and according to the proper form of the secreton. And indeed they also inform the eparch of the city to prepare and clean the 1.4 imperial
De cerimoniis aulae Byzantinae, lib1.-192
ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥ τοῦ φιλοχρίστου καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ τῷ αἰωνίῳ
βασιλεῖ βασιλέως υἱοῦ Λέοντος τοῦ σοφωτάτου καὶ ἀειμνήστου βασιλέως σύνταγμά τι καὶ βασιλείου σπουδῆς ὄντως ἄξιον ποίημα.
Ἄλλοις μέν τισιν ἴσως ἔδοξεν ἂν τουτὶ τὸ ἐγχείρημα περιττόν, οἷς οὐ τοσαύτη τῶν ἀναγκαίων φροντίς, ἡμῖν δὲ καὶ λίαν φίλον
καὶ περισπούδαστον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων οἰκειότερον, ἅτε διὰ τῆς ἐπαινετῆς τάξεως τῆς βασιλείου ἀρχῆς δεικνυμένης κοσμιωτέρας
καὶ πρὸς τὸ εὐσχημονέστερον ἀνατρεχούσης καὶ διὰ τοῦτο θαυμαστῆς οὔσης ἔθνεσί τε καὶ ἡμετέροις. Πολλὰ γὰρ οἶδε τῷ μακρῷ χρόνῳ
συναπολήγειν, ὡς ἐν αὐτῷ πραχθέντα καὶ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ δαπανώμενα, μεθ' ὧν καὶ τὸ μέγα χρῆμα καὶ τίμιον, ἡ τῆς βασιλείου τάξεως
ἔκθεσίς τε καὶ ὑποτύπωσις, ἧς παροραθείσης καί, οἷον εἰπεῖν, ἀπονεκρωθείσης, ἀκαλλώπιστον τῷ ὄντι καὶ δυσειδῆ τὴν βασιλείαν
ἦν καθορᾶν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ σώματος μὴ εὐσχημόνως διαπεπλασμένου, ἀλλὰ φύρδην καὶ οὐκ εὐαρμόστως τῶν μελῶν αὐτῷ συγκειμένων ἀταξίαν
ἄν τις τὸ τοιοῦτον προσείποι· οὕτω καὶ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ πολιτεύματος μὴ τάξει ἀγομένου καὶ κυβερνωμένου, κατ' οὐδὲν διοίσει τῆς
ἰδιωτικῆς καὶ 1.2 ἀνελευθέρου διαγωγῆς. Ἵν' οὖν μὴ τοῦτο γένηται καὶ δόξωμεν ἀτάκτως φερόμενοι τὴν βασιλικὴν καθυβρίζειν μεγαλειότητα,
δεῖν ᾠήθημεν, ὅσα τε παρὰ τῶν παλαιοτέρων ἐφευρέθη καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἑωρακότων διηγγέλθη καὶ παρ' ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἐθεάθη καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν
ἐνηργήθη, ταῦτα φιλοπόνῳ μελέτῃ ἐκ πολλῶν ἐρανίσασθαι καὶ πρὸς εὐσύνοπτον κατάληψιν τῷ παρόντι ἐκθέσθαι φιλοτεχνήματι, καὶ
πατρίων ἐθῶν παρεωραμένων παράδοσιν τοῖς μεθ' ἡμᾶς ἐνσημήνασθαι, καὶ ὥσπερ τινὰ ἄνθη ἐκ λειμώνων δρεψαμένους εἰς ἀσύγκριτον
εὐπρέπειαν τῇ βασιλικῇ παραθέσθαι λαμπρότητι, καὶ οἷόν τι κάτοπτρον διαυγὲς καὶ νεόσμηκτον ἐν μέσοις τοῖς ἀνακτόροις ἱδρύσασθαι,
ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὰ τῇ βασιλείῳ ἀρχῇ πρέποντα καὶ τὰ τῷ συγκλητικῷ συστήματι ἄξια κατοπτευόμενα, ἐν τάξει καὶ κόσμῳ αἱ τοῦ κράτους
ἡνίαι διεξάγοιντο. Ὡς ἂν δὲ σαφῆ καὶ εὐδιάγνωστα εἶεν τὰ γεγραμμένα, καὶ καθωμιλημένῃ καὶ ἁπλουστέρᾳ φράσει κεχρήμεθα καὶ
λέξεσι ταῖς αὐταῖς καὶ ὀνόμασι τοῖς ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ πράγματι πάλαι προσαρμοσθεῖσι καὶ λεγομένοις, ὑφ' ὧν τοῦ βασιλείου κράτους
ῥυθμῷ καὶ τάξει φερομένου, εἰκονίζοι μὲν τοῦ δημιουργοῦ τὴν περὶ τόδε τὸ πᾶν ἁρμονίαν καὶ κίνησιν, καθορῷτο δὲ καὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ
χεῖρα σεμνοπρεπέστερον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἡδύτερόν τε καὶ θαυμαστότερον, λεκτέον περὶ ἑκάστης τάξεως, ὅπως τε καὶ καθ' ὃν ὀφείλει
τρόπον ἐκτελεῖσθαι καὶ συμπεραίνεσθαι.
1.3 Αʹ Ὅσα δεῖ παραφυλάττειν, προκένσου γινομένου ἐν τῇ Μεγάλῃ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἤτοι τάξις καὶ ἀκολουθία τῶν εὐσήμων καὶ περιφανῶν
προελεύσεων, ἐν αἷς οἱ βασιλεῖς ἀπίασιν ἐν τῇ Μεγάλῃ Ἐκκλησίᾳ.
Πρὸ μιᾶς ἡμέρας τῆς οἵας οὖν ἐνισταμένης περιφανεστάτης ἑορτῆς εἰσέρχονται οἱ πραιπόσιτοι ἐν τῷ Χρυσοτρικλίνῳ, τῆς καθημερινῆς
δηλονότι ἱσταμένης προελεύσεως, καὶ ὑπομιμνήσκουσι τοὺς δεσπότας περὶ τῆς ἑορτῆς, εἶτα κελεύουσιν τούτους οἱ δεσπόται ἄγεσθαι
ἐπὶ τὴν αὔριον πρόκενσον ἤτοι προέλευσιν. Οἱ δὲ ἐξερχόμενοι ὁρίζουσι πᾶσιν τοῖς τοῦ κουβουκλείου, ὁμοίως καὶ τῷ κατεπάνῳ καὶ
τῷ δομεστίκῳ τῶν βασιλικῶν, σὺν τούτοις δὲ καὶ τοῖς δυσὶ δημάρχοις· ἀποστέλλουσι δὲ καὶ μανδάτα τῷ τε δομεστίκῳ τῶν νουμέρων
καὶ τῷ κόμητι τῶν τειχέων, καί, ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, πάσαις ταῖς τάξεσι καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς σεκρέτοις καταμηνύουσι περὶ τῆς τοιαύτης προελεύσεως,
ἵνα ἑκάστη τάξις καὶ ἕκαστον σέκρετον κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν τάξιν καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον τοῦ σεκρέτου τύπον τὰ αὐτοῖς ἁρμόζοντα προευτρεπίσωσι.
Καὶ μὴν καὶ τῷ ὑπάρχῳ τῆς πόλεως γνωρίζουσι τοῦ εὐτρεπίσαι καὶ ἀνακαθᾶραι τὴν 1.4 βασιλικὴν
