Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Trierarch
/ˈtraɪərɑːrk/noun
In classical Athens, the wealthy citizen who equipped and commanded a warship at his own expense.
The Greek roots
τριήρης
triḗrēs
trireme, three-fitted ship
ἄρχος
arkhós
leader, commander
Literally: “trireme commander”
The story of the word
Athens built the hulls and made rich men pay for everything else. A trierarch took a state trireme for a year, hired and drilled the two hundred men who rowed it, kept the gear in repair out of his own pocket and usually stood on the deck in battle. A man who thought a richer citizen had been passed over could challenge him either to take the burden or to swap entire estates on the spot. Few challenges went that far.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
monarchanarchypatriarchhierarchy
In a sentence
Demosthenes served as trierarch and complained about the cost in writing.
The list of trierarchs doubles as a list of the richest men in the city.