Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Polemarch
/ˈpɒlɪmɑːrk/noun
A senior military commander in a Greek city, and at Athens one of the nine archons.
The Greek roots
πόλεμος
pólemos
war
ἄρχος
arkhós
leader, commander
Literally: “war leader”
The story of the word
At Marathon the ten generals split five against five on whether to fight, and Herodotus says the polemarch Callimachus cast the deciding vote for battle, took the right wing and died there. The office later turned civil: the Athenian polemarch handled lawsuits involving resident foreigners and organised the funeral games for the war dead, while the fighting went to elected generals. πόλεμος also gives polemic, an argument run as a campaign.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
polemicmonarcharchonanarchyhierarchy
In a sentence
The polemarch sacrificed before the line advanced.
Under the reformed constitution the polemarch commanded nothing at all.