<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (May 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (May 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Byzantine Empire had a complex system of aristocracy and bureaucracy, which was inherited from the Roman Empire . At the apex of the hierarchy stood the emperor, yet "Byzantium was a republican monarchy and not primarily a monarchy by divine right". Beneath the emperor, a multitude of officials and court functionaries operated the complex administrative machinery that was necessary to run the empire . In addition to those officials, a large number of honorific titles existed, which the emperor awarded to his subjects or to friendly foreign rulers . </P> <P> Over the more than thousand years of the empire's existence, different titles were adopted and discarded, and many lost or gained prestige . At first the various titles of the empire were the same as those in the late Roman Empire . However, by the time that Heraclius was emperor (610--641), many of the titles had become obsolete . By the time of Alexios I reign (1082--1118), many of the positions were either new or drastically changed . However, from that time on they remained essentially the same until the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 . </P>

What was the form of government in the byzantine empire
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