Akolouthos

Akolouthos () was a Byzantine office with varying functions over time. Originally a subaltern officer of the imperial guard regiment (tagma) of the Vigla, it was associated with the command over the famed Varangian Guard in the 11th–12th centuries.

== History == The title is first attested in the late 9th century, when the Kletorologion of 899 lists him as one of the senior officers of the Vigla or Arithmos guard regiment (tagma). In the 9th–10th centuries, the akolouthos (often termed , akolouthos tou arithmou, to emphasize his links to the Vigla/Arithmos) was the deputy of the regimental commander, the droungarios tes vigles, i.e. the equivalent of the proximos and the protomandator in the two senior tagmata, the Scholai and the Excubitores. Already at this time, however, he was associated with the command of the foreign mercenaries, chiefly the Franks.