Emperor

   Title of the Byzantine sovereign. The precise terms used included autokrator (Greek for the Latin imperator), and, after the conquest of Persia by Herakleios, basileus (qq.v.). Fundamentally, the concept is Roman, for Byzantium (q.v.) was, in truth, the Roman Empire in the East down to the conquest of Constantinople (q.v.) in 1453. Once Christianity became established as the sole state religion, the emperor was viewed as God's viceroy on earth, from whom all political and military power flowed. This concept of emperorship, and the titles associated with it, Byzantine emperors protected as a copyright against any infringement by western emperors (e.g., Charlemagne [q.v.]). Authority was delegated to high officials who resided with the emperor, normally at the Great Palace of Constantinople (qq.v.) but also to administrators in the provinces. For this an emperor needed basic administrative and rhetorical skills. More important than even military leadership, the management of a vast empire required, above all, the skills needed to administer a court and vast bureaucracy.