Page "Emperor" Paragraph 18

* Autokrator ( Αὐτοκράτωρ ) or Basileus ( βασιλεύς ): although the Greeks used equivalents of " Caesar " ( Καίσαρ, Kaisar ) and " Augustus " ( in two forms: transliterated as, Augoustos or translated as, Sebastos ) these were rather used as part of the name of the Emperor than as an indication of the office.

Instead of developing a new name for the new type of monarchy, they used ( autokratōr, only partly overlapping with the modern understanding of " autocrat ") or ( basileus, until then the usual name for " sovereign ").

Autokratōr was essentially used as a translation of the Latin Imperator in Greek-speaking part of the Roman Empire, but also here there is only partial overlap between the meaning of the original Greek and Latin concepts.

For the Greeks Autokratōr was not a military title, and was closer to the Latin dictator concept (" the one with unlimited power "), before it came to mean Emperor.

Basileus appears not to have been used exclusively in the meaning of " emperor " ( and specifically, the Roman / Byzantine emperor ) before the 7th century, although it was a standard informal designation of the Emperor in the Greek-speaking East.