View source for Symponos

The '''''symponos''''' ({{langx|el|σύμπονος}}) was, along with the ''[[logothetes tou praitoriou]]'', one of the two senior subalterns to the [[Eparch of Constantinople]], the chief administrator of the capital of the [[Byzantine Empire]].<ref>{{harvnb|ODB|loc="Eparch of the City" (A. Kazhdan), p. 705}}; {{harvnb|Bury|1911|p=70}}.</ref> His main responsibility was the supervision of the city's [[guilds]] on the Eparch's behalf.<ref>{{harvnb|Laiou|2007|loc=Nicolas Oikonomides, "[http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/EconHist/EHB44.pdf The Role of the Byzantine State in the Economy]", p. 975}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Sinnigen|1957|p=55}}: "In the ninth century, the ministry was divided into two departments, one under a symponos or assessor, who supervised the urban guilds, the other under the ''logothetes tou praitoriou'', who may (like the earlier ''primiscrinius'') have been concerned with the administration of justice."</ref> Earlier scholars suggested that each guild had its own ''symponos'', but this hypothesis has been rejected since.<ref name="ODB">{{harvnb|ODB|loc="Symponos" (A. Kazhdan), p. 1989}}.</ref><ref name="Bury71">{{harvnb|Bury|1911|p=71}}.</ref> [[John B. Bury]] identified him as the successor of the ''{{lang|la|adsessor}}'' attested in the late 4th century ''[[Notitia Dignitatum]]'', but the earliest surviving seal of a ''symponos'' dates to the 6th or 7th centuries. The office is last attested in 1023.<ref name="ODB"/><ref name="Bury71"/> According to the [[Taktikon Uspensky]], the ''symponos'' and the ''logothetes tou praitoriou'' preceded, rank-wise, the ''[[chartoularios|chartoularioi]]'' of the [[Byzantine themes]] and domesticates, but were beneath the rank of ''[[spatharios]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Bury|1911|p=70}}.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Sources==
* {{The Imperial Administrative System of the Ninth Century}}
* {{Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium|ref={{harvid|ODB}}}}
*{{cite book|editor-last=Laiou|editor-first=Angeliki E.|editor-link=Angeliki Laiou|title=The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century |year=2007 |orig-year=2002 |url=http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/EHB.html|location=Washington, District of Columbia|publisher=[[Dumbarton Oaks]]|isbn=978-0-88402-332-6}}
*{{cite book|last=Sinnigen|first=William Gurnee|title=The Officium of the Urban Prefecture during the Later Roman Empire|location=Rome|publisher=American Academy in Rome|year=1957 |url=https://archive.org/details/officiumofurbanp0000sinn|url-access=registration}}

[[Category:Administration of Constantinople]]
[[Category:Byzantine fiscal offices]]
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