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Plot on a Map
Athens.

arkhon, pl. arkhontes (participle acting as a noun), Eng. archon or arkhon · Lit. “one who is in authority.” Used in three senses: loosely, to refer to any Athenian public official; more strictly (usually a collective plural) to describe the “nine arkhons”; specifically, as the title of the senior of the nine arkhonships. These were still the titular chief magistrates of Athens, but their real authority had been severely restricted ever since they began to be appointed by lot, apparently in the 480s. They retained however an honorific position, particularly in the administration of justice: or instance, former arkhons became members of the Areiopagos for life; and during their year of office they processed the litigation presented to the most important of the dikasteria, and presided over trials held there, although in this capacity they were by now little more than non-voting (and non-speaking) chairmen. The three senior arkhons each had a specific title and competence: the arkhon (the eponymous official of Athens who gave his name to the civil year) heard cases involving family and inheritance matters of citizens; the arkhon basileus (lit. “king arkhon”) presided over religious matters, including sacrilege and homicide; the polemarkhos (lit. “war arkhon,” but by now all his military functions had been handed over to the strategoi) dealt with family and inheritance cases involving metics and apparently cases involving certain other privileged foreigners also. The other six arkhons were called thesmothetai (sing. thesmothetes: originally perhaps “establisher of judgements” rather than “maker of laws”); they heard those public cases, and perhaps also some private ones, which did not fall within the competence of the three senior arkhons or of other named officials.

Greek: ἄρχων, ἄρχοντες.

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