logothete

Logothete (, logothétēs, pl. λογοθέται, logothétai; Med. , pl. logothetae; ; ; ; , logotet) was an administrative title originating in the eastern Roman Empire. In the middle and late Byzantine Empire, it rose to become a senior administrative title, equivalent to a minister or secretary of state. The title spread to other states influenced by Byzantine culture, such as Bulgaria, Sicily, Serbia, and the Danubian Principalities. Byzantine Empire Origin and development In Greek, logothetēs means "one who accounts, calculates or ratiocinates", literally "one who sets the word". The exact origin of the title is unclear; it is found in papyri and works of the Church Fathers denoting a variety of junior officials, mostly charged with fiscal duties. The ancestors of the middle Byzantine logothetes were the fiscal officials known as rationales during Late Antiquity. The office dates back to at least the time of Emperor Septimius Severus, where a procurator a rationibus is attested. In late Roman times, the rationales were officials attached to the praetorian prefectures and charged with supervising the state treasury and the emperor's private domains. The first notable official titled as a logothete was Marinus, the future praetorian prefect and chief minister of Emperor Anastasius I. In the 6th century, under Emperor Justinian I, the logothetes gained in prominence and power, as they were placed in charge of the emperor's revenue-gathering measures and dispatched as fiscal agents to the provinces or accompanied military expeditions. They were allowed to keep a twelfth of the sums they would gather for the treasury, and some, such as the notorious Alexander "Scissors", amassed considerable fortunes in this way. The major transformation of the office came in the early 7th century: during the Heraclian dynasty, the administrative machinery of the state, inherited from the time of Diocletian and Constantine the Great, was thoroughly reformed. Thus the three chief financial "departments" of the old system, the Praetorian Prefecture, the Sacred Largesses (sacrae largitiones) and the Private Domains (res privata) were replaced by smaller specialized departments titled logothesia (sing. logothesion) or sekreta (sing. sekreton).