Protasekretis

The prōtasēkrētis (Greek: πρωτασηκρῆτις), also found as prōtoasēkrētis (πρωτοασηκρῆτις) and Latinized as protasecretis or protoasecretis, was a senior official in the Byzantine bureaucracy. The title means "first asēkrētis", illustrating his position as the head of the order of the asēkrētis, the senior class of imperial notaries.

The post evolved gradually. The first asēkrētis are attested from the 6th century, and several patriarchs of Constantinople and one emperor, Anastasios II (r. 713–715), were drawn from their ranks. Aside from possibly anachronistic references to Maximus the Confessor being a prōtasēkrētis under Emperor Heraclius (r. 610–641), the earliest confirmed occurrence (as proto a secreta) comes from the Liber Pontificalis for the year 756. As head of the imperial chancery (the effective successor of the late Roman primicerius notariorum), the position was highly influential: in the 899 Klētorologion of Philotheos, a list of precedence of Byzantine imperial officials, he is placed seventh among the sekretikoi, the financial ministers of the state. From documents and sigillographic evidence, the prōtasēkrētai held the dignities of prōtospatharios, patrikios and anthypatos. Among others, the Patriarch Photios (858–867 and 877–886) held the post.

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