TheHikanatoi (Greek:Ἱκανάτοι,lit. 'The Able Ones'), sometimesLatinized asHicanati, were one of theByzantinetagmata, the elite guard units based near the imperial capital ofConstantinople. Founded in the early 9th century, it survived until the late 11th century.

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The exact date of the unit's establishment is uncertain: theVita Ignatii, ahagiographic account of the life ofPatriarch Ignatius of Constantinople, records that the unit was said to have been establishedc. 809 by EmperorNikephoros I (r. 802–811).[1] A brief notice in theChronicle of 811 fragment also records that in his ninthregnal year (which began on 1 November 810) Nikephoros I, in preparation for a campaign against theBulgars, created a bodyguard for his son and heirStaurakios, recruiting into it the sons of the aristocracy.^[2] This date is generally accepted,^[3] althoughsigillographic evidence as to its establishment is vague, and could support a late 8th-century establishment.^[1] According to theVita, Niketas, the grandson of Nikephoros and future patriarch Ignatius, was appointed as the regiment's first commander.^[4]

The name of the unit derives from the Greek wordἱκανός, "able", and the Latin ending-atus.^[5] The unit is well attested in the 9th through 10th centuries.^[4] The first battle the unit participated in was the disastrousBattle of Pliska on 26 July 811 against the Bulgars, where Emperor Nikephoros I was killed. The unit is often recorded underBasil I the Macedonian (r. 867–886), and participated in another defeat against the Bulgars, at theBattle of Acheloos in 917.^[6] In theCretan expedition of 949, 456 soldiers of the unit fromBithynia, as well as an unspecified number of members garrisoned in the Europeanthemes ofThrace andMacedonia took part.^[6] The unit's continued existence in the 11th century can not be safely attested, as the few occurrences are either modern emendations or may refer to a family name "Hikanatos".^[4][7] Like most of thetagmata, it probably ceased to exist sometime in the latter half of the 11th century.^[8][9]

According toJohn Haldon, theHikanatoi were apparently modelled on thetagma of theVigla.^[4] The regiment was headed by adomestikos (δομέστικος τῶν Ἱκανάτων,domestikos tōn Hikanatōn), usually with the court rank ofprōtospatharios, although they could theoretically advance to the ranks ofpatrikios andanthypatos patrikios.^[4][10]

His chief subordinate was thetopotērētēs ("lieutenant"), ofspatharokandidatos orspatharios rank, while the rest of the unit's officials were below the rank ofspatharios.^[11][12] Following the pattern of theVigla, there were achartoularios (financial official), a number ofkomētes ("counts") and their subordinatekentarchoi commanding thebanda into which the unit was divided, aprōtomandatōr (head messenger), and three classes of standard-bearers: thebandophoroi,sēmeiophoroi anddoukiniatores.^[13]

As with the othertagmata, the exact size of the unit and its subdivisions is a matter of debate, since it is chiefly based onArab accounts, whose accuracy and veracity is open to question.Warren Treadgold, who accepts the Arab figures as accurate, considers thetagmata to have had a standard size of 4,000 men each,^[14] while Haldon, who considers their numbers inflated, considers a total of 4,000 for alltagmata more plausible.^[15] The lists of theCretan expedition of 949, included in theDe Ceremoniis of EmperorConstantine VII Porphyrogennetos (r. 913–959), include mention of 456Hikanatoi,[12] but it is unclear what part of the unit's strength they represent.

• Niketas Rhangabe (the future Patriarch Ignatios),c. 810–811[16]^[17]
• Peter,patrikios and previouslydomestikos tōn scholōn, he serveddomestikos tōn hikanatōn under Nikephoros I and was captured at Pliska, later became a monk and saint^[18]
• Orestes,prōtospatharios, attended the869 Church council in Constantinople^[19][20]
• Nikephoros Tzourakes,prōtospatharios, mid-9th/10th century, known only from his seal^[19][21]
• John Kourkouas (grandfather of thenamesake 10th-century general), rebelled against Basil Ic. 885[19]^[22]
• Bardas,basilikos spatharios, 9th century, known only from his seal^[23][24]
• Michael,basilikos prōtospatharios, 9th century, known only from his seal^[23][25]
• Theoktistos or Theognostos,basilikos spatharios, 9th century, known only from his seals; based on a better exemplar he may have actually beendomestikos of theOptimatoi rather than of theHikanatoi^[23][26]
• Pankratoukas, underLeo VI the Wise (r. 886–912)[19]
• Olbianos Maroules, commanded the regiment at Acheloos in 917^[19]
• Constantine Barymichael, defected fromLeo Phokas the Elder toRomanos Lekapenos during their rivalry for the throne in 919^[19]
• John,basilikos prōtospatharios, 9th/10th century, known only from his seal^[23][27]
• Leo,basilikos prōtospatharios, late 9th/early 10th century, known only from his seal^[28]
• Constantine,basilikos prōtospatharios, 10th century, known only from his seal^[29]
• Leo Sarakenopoulos, before 971^[30]
• Theodore,basilikos prōtospatharios, 10th century, known only from his seal^[31]

• Birkenmeier, John W. (2002).The Development of the Komnenian Army: 1081–1180. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers.ISBN 90-04-11710-5.
• Bury, J. B. (1911).The Imperial Administrative System of the Ninth Century – With a Revised Text of the Kletorologion of Philotheos. London: Oxford University Press.OCLC 1046639111.
• Haldon, John F. (1984).Byzantine Praetorians. An Administrative, Institutional and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900. Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH.ISBN 3-7749-2004-4.
• Haldon, John (1999).Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, 565–1204. London: UCL Press.ISBN 1-85728-495-X.
• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991).The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
• Kühn, Hans-Joachim (1991).Die byzantinische Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert: Studien zur Organisation der Tagmata (in German). Vienna: Fassbaender Verlag.ISBN 3-9005-38-23-9.
• Lilie, Ralph-Johannes; Ludwig, Claudia; Pratsch, Thomas; Zielke, Beate (2013).Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit Online. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Nach Vorarbeiten F. Winkelmanns erstellt (in German). Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter.
• Treadgold, Warren T. (1995).Byzantium and Its Army, 284–1081. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.ISBN 0-8047-3163-2.

• Treadgold, Warren T. (1980). "Notes on the Numbers and Organisation of the Ninth-Century Byzantine Army".Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies.21. Oxford, United Kingdom:269–288.

• Cavalry units and formations
• 9th-century establishments in the Byzantine Empire
• 809 establishments
• 11th-century disestablishments in the Byzantine Empire
• Guards units of the Byzantine Empire
• Military units and formations established in the 9th century

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