The De Cerimoniis or De Ceremoniis (fully De cerimoniis aulae Byzantinae) is the conventional Latin name for a Greek book of ceremonial protocol at the court of the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople, written in the middle of the 10th century. Its Greek title is often cited as Ἔκθεσις τῆς βασιλείου τάξεως ("Explanation of the Order of the Palace"), taken from the work's preface, or Περὶ τῆς Βασιλείου Τάξεως ("On the Order of the Palace"). In non-specialist English sources, it tends to be called the Book of Ceremonies (variably spelt), a formula used by writers including David Talbot Rice and the modern English translation.
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👉 De Ceremoniis in the context of Constantine VII
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (Medieval Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος Πορφυρογέννητος, romanized: Kōnstantīnos Porphyrogénnētos; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, and the nephew of his predecessor Alexander.
Most of his reign was dominated by co-regents: from 913 until 919 he was under the regency of his mother, while from 920 until 945 he shared the throne with Romanos Lekapenos, whose daughter Helena he married, and his sons. Constantine VII is best known for the Geoponika (τά γεωπονικά), an important agronomic treatise compiled during his reign, and three, perhaps four, books; De Administrando Imperio (bearing in Greek the heading Πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον υἱὸν Ῥωμανόν), De Ceremoniis (Περὶ τῆς Βασιλείου Τάξεως), De Thematibus (Περὶ θεμάτων Άνατολῆς καὶ Δύσεως), and Vita Basilii (Βίος Βασιλείου), though his authorship of the Vita Basilii is not certain.
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De Ceremoniis in the context of Actuarius
Actuarius or actarius, rendered in Greek as aktouarios (ἀκτουάριος), was the title applied to officials of varying functions in the late Roman and Byzantine empires.
In the late Roman Empire, the actuarius was an official charged with the distribution of wages and provisions to the Roman military. In this capacity, the post is attested at least until the 6th century, but appears only in antiquated legal texts thereafter. The title re-appears in the Taktikon Uspensky of circa 842 and the later Kletorologion of 899, but the role of its holder is unclear. In the 10th-century De Ceremoniis of Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (r. 913–959), the aktouarios is mentioned as handing over awards to victorious charioteers, but in the 12th century (or perhaps in the 11th century) the term came to be applied to prominent physicians, possibly those attached to the imperial court (cf. John Actuarius).