Themegas dioikētēs (Greek:μέγας διοικητής) was aByzantine court dignity during thePalaiologan period.
Themegas dioikētēs derives from the titledioikētēs ("administrator"), with the addition ofmegas, "grand". Thedioikētēs was a provincial fiscal administrative post, which however was replaced in the early 12th century by thepraktōr.[1][2]
The dignity is very obscure, and is rarely mentioned in the sources. Its first mention is about an anonymous holder in a letter byManuel Moschopoulos, written inc. 1305.[2] Most information comes from theBook of Offices, written bypseudo-Kodinos in the middle of the 14th century. According to pseudo-Kodinos, the office held no specific function, but was a purely honorific dignity.[3] In other sources, its holders appear to exercise fiscal and judicial functions.[2]
In pseudo-Kodinos' work, the title ranked 55th in the court hierarchy, between theprōtallagatōr and theorphanotrophos.[4] In other contemporary lists of offices his position varies, but is far lower, coming usually right after thelogariastēs tēs aulēs.[5] Thus in the appendix to theHexabiblos, which reflects the usage during the late reign ofAndronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328) or during the reign ofAndronikos III Palaiologos (r. 1328–1341), he ranks 79th among 91 offices, right before thenomophylax and following thelogariastēs tēs aulēs.[6] In the list ofMatthew Blastares, which also reflects usage under Andronikos II, he ranks 79th among 90 dignities,[7] and in an anonymous list in verse, which probably corresponds to the situation in 1321–1328, 50th among 60.[8] In the early 15th-century list ofParis. gr. 1783, themegas dioikētēs is the 67th among 75 dignities,[9] in that ofVatic. gr. 962 he ranks 69th among 92 dignities,[10] and in that ofXeropotam. 191 64th among 69 dignities.[11]
Pseudo-Kodinos also provides information on the dignity's court dress: askiadion hat with gold-wire embroidery, a "plain silk" kaftan-likekabbadion, and a ceremonial domed hat calledskaranikon, covered with velvet and topped with a red tassel. The uniform was complemented by a staff (dikanikion) of plain wood, smooth and without a knob.[12]
Only a handful of holders are known by name: the writer and officialTheodore Kabasilas in 1316–1322;[13] thekatholikos kritēs Glabas in 1330–1341;[14] and thesebastos John Doukas Balsamon,megas dioikētēs atThessalonica in 1355, known only from an act concerning theDocheiariou monastery.[15]
