Domestikos

Domestikos (; , from the ), in English sometimes [the] Domestic, was a civil, ecclesiastic and military office in the Late Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire.

==Military usage== The domestikoi trace their ancestry to the protectores domestici guard unit of the Late Roman army, established in the late 3rd century. These were a corps of men that served as a staff to the Roman emperors, while also functioning as an officer school. These continued in existence in the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire until the late 6th century. In the Byzantine army, the old protectores domestici had vanished by the 7th century, and the name only remained as a title associated with certain guard units. Following the creation of the tagmata in the mid-8th century, four of them, the Scholai, the Exkoubitoi, the Hikanatoi and the Noumeroi, as well as, uniquely, the thema of the Optimatoi, were led by a domestikos. To them was added the short-lived tagma of the Athanatoi in the late 10th century.