Hello, and thank you to any Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire historians that might be able to answer my questions. I am asking specifically about the early 13th century (circa Andronikos I's reign/The Fourth Crusade arriving in Constantinople) but I am open to answers from a little before and a little after this period.
Did Byzantines use patronymics to differentiate two men with similar names? I know modern-day Greeks don't and that ancient Greeks did, at least sometimes. But since Byzantine families loved using the same handful of given names, it must've gotten confusing when you had six cousins all named Alexios.
What might a day in the life of a typical citizen of Constantinople be like? I realize this would vary depending on age, social class, gender, etc. but even just the basics. Did they wake up at dawn? Start the day with breakfast? How many meals did they take during their waking hours? How often was one expected to attend church? How often was one expected to bathe? Were little kids looked after by nurses or slaves? Did unrelated men and women mingle with one another or was that taboo?
If an official was speaking to the emperor, what did he call the emperor? Your Excellency or something similar? In Greek or in Latin?
What was the standard of beauty in Byzantium? I imagine something must have survived of their poetry or plays that mention what was considered beautiful by them.
What were the officials and servants who waited on the imperial family called? I imagine the empress must've had ladies who dressed her hair and fetched and carried for her. Someone must've brought news to the emperor and announced visitors and that sort of thing.
What was a Byzantine wedding like? Was it similar to a modern Greek Orthodox wedding? Did they crown the bride and groom? Was there a certain color for the wedding clothes or did everyone just wear whatever their nicest clothing was? What would the vows have sounded like? In Western Europe the bride and groom would say something like "I take you to be my wife/husband and no other".
Were dogs and cats kept as household pets? What about exotic birds? I understand the emperors kept exotic animals like leopards in a menagerie.
Were children educated in separate schools or by private tutors?
Wow! That's a lot of questions!
I think, for your benefit, and the benefit of others, it may be better to ask them one at a time (or thematically) over the span of a few days, since some of these require very lengthy answers, and if I tried to answer them all in one go, I would either end up writing several volumes of posts (which might take a few days) or would inevitably have to water down or shorten my answers. Literally entire books have been written addressing some of these questions.