Paulos 7

Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
SexM
FloruitE VIII
Dates718 (taq) / 718 (tpq)
PmbZ No.5815
LocationsSicily (officeplace);
Kyzikos;
Syracuse (Sicily);
Sicily
TitlesPatrikios (dignity);
Chartoularios (office);
Chief of the Hippokomoi (office);
Strategos, Sicily (office)
Textual SourcesNicephorus, Breviarium Historiae, ed. C. Mango, Nikephoros, Patriarch of Constantinople: Short History; prev. ed. C. de Boor Nicephori ArchiepiscopiConstantinopolitani Opuscula Historica Leipzig 1880 (history);
Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1883-85, repr. Hildesheim/NewYork, 1980); tr. and comm. C. Mango and R. Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford 1997 (chronicle);
Zonaras = Ioannis Zonarae Epitome Historiarum, libri XIII-XVIII, ed. Th. Büttner-Wobst, (Bonn, 1897) (history)

Paulos 7 was a chartoularios serving under the emperor Leo III (Leo 3) in 718: Theoph. AM 6210 (Παῦλον, τὸν οἰκεῖον αὐτοῦ χαρτουλάριον). According to Zonaras, this post was that of head of the imperial grooms (stratores): Zon. XV 2. 3 (cited below). This suggests that the official later called protostrator was previously known as chartoularios, but this evidence is very late and probably a confusion with later practice; see R. Guilland, "Contribution a l'histoire administrative de l' empire byzantin; le cartulaire et le grand cartulaire", in RESEE 9/3 (1971) (reprinted in R. Guilland, Titres et fonctions de l'empire byzantin (Variorum Reprints, London, 1976) XVIII), pp. 405-407 (cited at Oikonomides, Listes, p. 364) and ODB I, p. 416, s.v. Chartoularios. Described in Nicephorus as a loyal and trusted follower of the emperor Leo 3 and a man already experienced in warfare: Nic. Brev. de Boor 54, Mango 55 (cited below). In 718 he was appointed strategos of Sicilia and sent there to suppress the rebellion of Sergios 3 and Basilios (Tiberios 3); according to Nicephorus he was already patrikios when appointed (Παῦλον τὸν πατρίκιον στρατηγὸν Σικελίας προβάλλεται ἅτε πιστὸν καὶ οἰκεῖον ὑπάρχοντα καὶ τακτικῶν ἔμπειρον: Nic. Brev. de Boor 54, Mango 55:7-9) but he appears from Theophanes to have been made patrikios at the same time as he became strategos (προβαλόμενος αὐτὸν πατρίκιον καὶ στρατηγὸν Σικελίας); he made his way via Kyzikos to Sicily and on reaching Syracuse he read a letter from the emperor Leo 3 to the army in Sicily and persuaded them to return to their loyalty; when they surrendered the usurper Tiberios 3 and his officials (cf. Georgios 4) to him he executed some, sending their heads to Constantinople, and tortured, mutilated and exiled others: Nic. Brev. de Boor 54-55, Mango 55, Theoph. AM 6210, Zon. XV 2. 3-8 (where his titles are recorded as follows: Παῦλον τὸν τῶν βασιλικῶν ἱπποκόμων ἐπιστατοῦντα, χαρτουλάριον ἡ Ῥωμαίων οἶδε τοῦτον λέγειν φωνή, πατρίκιον τιμήσας καὶ στρατηγὸν Σικελίας ὀνομάσας).

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