Stratopedarch

Stratopedarh ( dr. Greek. Στρᾰτοπεδ-άρχη нач - “ head of the camp ”, from dr. Greek. Στρ « τός - “ army, army ” + dr. Greek πέδον - “ soil, land ” + dr. Greek ἀρχή - " Command, command ") - a high military rank originally appeared in the Hellenistic Middle East in the 1st century BC. e. Later it was used in the Roman Empire and in Byzantium , becoming a court rank by the 10th century. In its former meaning, the “Commander-in-Chief” was found until the 13th century as the “Great Stratopedarch” ( Greek μέγας στρατοπεδάρχης ).

The origin of this word with the meaning "camp leader" is not known. It first appears in the 1st century BC. e. in the Middle East. In the same period, inscriptions with his Latin translation praefectus castrorum are found on the sites of the Roman legions . In the “ Judean War ” by Joseph Flavius, this word means the chief quartermaster of all camps, and in Dionysius of Halicarnassus it means the amalgamation of the legion that lost its commanders. In the New Testament ( Acts 28:16 ), this word designates the Praetorian prefect , the head of the garrison of the Praetorian Guard of Rome . In the 1st century, the commander was occasionally called a stratopedarch, as a synonym for the older term “ strategist ”. In the 4th century, church historian Eusebius of Caesarea considers the stratopedic to be the same as the Roman position of Dux . In the 5th century, the historian Olympiodor called the commander Ardavour “the stratopedarch of both forces,” just as the deeds of the Council of Chalcedon (451) called the emperor Zeno . Most likely this is a reference to the post of military master . Another historian of the fifth century, Eunapius, calls the position of the stratopedic higher. There is also a comparison of this rank with the rank of stratilate . According to the assumption of the German historian A. Vogt, during this period the position of stratopedic made sense of a military commissar, however, the French Byzantine until the X century, this term was quite rare and anachronistic , usually pointing to a military master or strategist. For example, in his chronicle Theophanes the Confessor calls the stratopedarch Emperor Jovian (363-364) and other generals of the same time. Of the later, one can name the protospafaria of Constantine, known only from a single seal . According to A. Kazhdan , from the 5th to the 9th century, the term “stratopedarch” continued to be used as a synonym for “strategist” ^[1] .

Until the X century, the stratopedarch did not fall into the list of official posts of the Byzantine Empire, and for the first time the . In 967, Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas appointed eunuch Foca to this post. According to the historian N. Ikonomidis, at that time the stratopedarch was subordinate to the . In the XI-XII centuries, the stratopedist was one of the posts that were assigned to the highest military commanders. From the middle of the XIII century, the term "great stratopedarch" began to be used, the first known of them was (d. 1258). A “ treatise on posts ” (XIV century) of the pseudo- Kodin places the great stratopedic between the protostrator and the great , and in his duties includes supplying the army. In fact, however, in XIV-XV it was a formal title, and only a small number of military leaders carried it in reality ^[2] .