Decānus
(Fr.
doyen, Eng. dean). The head of ten men. The word does not seem
to occur before the time of Constantine, and then, except in its ecclesiastical use, only in
the Eastern Empire. It perhaps took the place of the classical
decurio at
a time when the latter word had acquired its special meaning in the colonies and municipia. We
may distinguish three senses.
1.
A petty officer commanding a
contubernium of ten men (Modestus. 9).
2.
Officials at the court of Constantinople, but of no higher than menial rank (
Cod.
Theod. vi. 12). St. Chrysostom instances the
ὕπαρχος (=
praefectus praetorio) and
δεκανός as at opposite ends of the social scale. Like other
officiales, they were under the orders of the
magister
officiorum.
3.
The members of a guild or confraternity at Constantinople, charged with the burial of the
dead (
Cod. Iust. i. 2, 4 and 9). The institution appears to be a distinctly
Christian one, and to have organized what had been previously a matter of casual
charity—the decent burial of the poor.