Epi tou eidikou

The epi tou eidikou (Greek: ἐπὶ τοῦ εἰδικοῦ [λόγου], "in charge of the special [department]"), also known simply as the [e]idikos, meaning "Special Secretary", or, from the 11th century on, as the logothetes tou eidikou, was an official of the Byzantine Empire who controlled the department known as eidikon, a special treasury and storehouse.

The origin of the office is disputed: the department is first attested in the reign of Emperor Theophilos (r. 829–842), but some scholars (e.g. Rodolphe Guilland) derive the etymology of the eidikon department from the word idikos, "private", indicating a continuation of the Late Roman office of comes rerum privatarum. This view is rejected by others, notably J. B. Bury, who see it as a wholly separate institution, juxtaposing the "special" department of the eidikon with the "general" department or genikon, and consider it as originating in the military departments of the Late Roman praetorian prefectures.Ernst Stein, on the other hand, connected it to the word eidos (meaning "ware"), and regarded the eidikon as the treasury for revenue paid in kind rather than coin.

The eidikon fulfilled the dual function of imperial treasury and storehouse. As a treasury, it stored various precious materials such as silk or gold, and was responsible for the payment of the annual salaries (rogai) of officials of senatorial rank. As a storehouse, the eidikon controlled the state factories producing military equipment (the Late Roman fabricae) and was responsible for supplying the necessary matériel for expeditions, ranging from weapons to "sails, ropes, hides, axes, wax, tin, lead, casks" for the fleet or even Arab clothing for imperial spies. For expeditions in which the emperor himself took part, the eidikos accompanied the army at the head of his own baggage train of 46 pack-horses carrying everything "from shoes to candlesticks", as well as large sums of gold and silver coinage for the emperor's use.

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