Domestikos (Greek: δομέστικος, from the Latin domesticus, "of the household"), in English sometimes [the] Domestic, was a civil, ecclesiastic and military office in the late Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire.
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The domestikoi trace their ancestry to the protectores domestici guard unit of the Late Roman army, established in the late 3rd century. These were a corps of men that served as a staff to the Roman Emperor, while also functioning as an officer school.[1] These continued in existence in the Eastern Roman Empire until the late 6th century. In the Byzantine army, the old protectores domestici had vanished by the 7th century, and the name only remained as a title associated with certain guard units. Following the creation of the tagmata in the mid-8th century, four of them, the Scholai, the Exkoubitoi, the Hikanatoi and the Noumera, as well as, uniquely, the thema of the Optimatoi, were led by a domestikos.[2] To them was added the short-lived tagma of the Athanatoi in the late 10th century.[3]
The most important among them, the domestikos tōn scholōn ("Domestic of the Schools") would by the 10th century rise to be the commander-in-chief of the army after the Emperor, and the post would later in the same century be divided in two, with the domestikoi of the East (tēs anatolēs) and of the West (tēs dyseōs) commanding the military forces in Asia Minor and Europe (the Balkans) respectively.[4] In his capacity as the de facto commander-in-chief of the army, the domestikos tōn scholōn was replaced by the megas domestikos in the 12th-13th centuries, while the ordinary domestikos became an honorary title awarded to mid-level officials during the Palaiologan period.[5]
The title of megas domestikos (Greek: μέγας δομέστικος), the Grand Domestic in English, was given to the commander-in-chief of the Byzantine land army, below the Emperor.[6] Its exact origin is somewhat unclear: it is first mentioned in the 9th century, and most likely derives from the domestikos tōn scholōn, with the epithet megas added to connote the supreme authority of its holder, following contemporary practice evident in other offices as well.[7] Both titles appear to have co-existed for a time, until the megas domestikos fully replaced the earlier office by the mid-11th century, although the office is still sometimes referred to as the megas domestikos of the scholai or "of the army".[6] In the Komnenian period, in an echo of the 10th-century arrangements, the megas domestikos would sometimes command the entire field army of East or West.[8]
In the Palaiologan period, the office initially fell in rank below those of prōtovestiarios and the megas stratopedarchēs, but was raised by the mid-14th century to be one of the highest ranks, directly below that of Caesar.[9] It remained the formal head of the army, although in fact it was bestowed to generals and high-ranking courtiers alike, among others George Mouzalon, John Palaiologos (brother of Michael VIII), Michael Tarchaneiotes, Alexios Strategopoulos and John Kantakouzenos (the future John VI).[10] The office also included various ceremonial functions, as detailed in the account of offices of pseudo-Kodinos.[9][11]
From 355, civil domestici are also attested at the head of various bureaus, and various high administrative positions remained associated with the title domestikos until the late Byzantine Empire.[12] Some court positions were also renamed, as their departments became independent: the domestikos tēs basilikēs trapezēs ("domestic of the imperial table") attested in 680 derives from the old castrensis palatii.[13]
In an ecclesiastical context, a domestikos was the head of a group associated with church ritual, especially in reference to choir singers. They were the choirmasters, leading the singing and the acclamations of the Emperor and the patriarch.[12][14]