What was the social structure in the Byzantine Empire?

[staisil]

Byzantine society had a strictly hierarchical structure and a centralized authority in accordance with absolutist concepts. The Emperor "by the grace of God" together with his family and court were at the tip of the social pinnacle.
The local aristocracy, state functionaries, senior military officers, and large landowners were all members of the upper class. The middle class comprised the urban population of merchants, industrialists, and owners of medium-sized landed properties, while the populace, that is, the lower class, was made up of wage-earners and paupers.

The clergy did not form a distinct class, despite the fact that they enjoyed special privileges; they were distributed throughout all the social levels. Slaves did exist, although the state preferred their redemption to their subjugation.