Silentiarius

Silentiarius, Hellenized to silentiarios (Greek: σιλεντιάριος) and Anglicized to silentiary, was the Latin title given to a class of courtiers in the Byzantine imperial court, responsible for order and silence (Latin: silentium) in the Great Palace of Constantinople. In the middle Byzantine period (8th–11th centuries), it was transformed into an honorific court title.

History and functions

An imperial edict dated to 326 or 328 provides the earliest attestation of the title. The schola of the silentiarii was supervised by the praepositus sacri cubiculi and its members belonged to the jurisdiction of the magister officiorum. Their function in the palace was to keep order during imperial audiences and to call the meeting of the emperor's privy council, the consistorium (an act called "silentium nuntiare"). Four silentiarii were detailed to the service of the empress. The silentiarii were chosen from the senatorial class, but freed from the usual obligations of this class. A class of honorary silentiarii, admittance into which could be purchased, also existed. By 437, the size of the actual schola had been set to thirty, with three decuriones (Greek: δεκουρίωνες) placed in charge of it. Although initially low-ranking, their proximity to the imperial person occasioned the elevation of the ordinary members to the rank of vir spectabilis in the 5th century and of the decuriones further to the rank of vir illustris in the 6th century.