Byzantine

jargon, architecture A term describing any system that has

so many labyrinthine internal interconnections that it would

be impossible to simplify by separation into loosely coupled

or linked components.

The city of Byzantium, later renamed Constantinople and then

Istanbul, and the Byzantine Empire were vitiated by a

bureaucratic overelaboration bordering on lunacy: quadruple

banked agencies, dozens or even scores of superfluous levels

and officials with high flown titles unrelated to their actual

function, if any.

Access to the Emperor and his council was controlled by

powerful and inscrutable eunuchs and by rival sports factions.

[Edward Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"].

(1999-01-15)