archon

American  

[ahr-kon] / ˈɑr kɒn /

noun

1. a higher magistrate in ancient Athens.

2. any ruler.

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archon British  

/ ˈɑːkɒn, -kən /

noun

1. (in ancient Athens) one of the nine chief magistrates

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Other Word Forms

• archonship
  noun

Etymology

Origin of archon

1650–60; < Greek árchōn magistrate, ruler, noun use of present participle of árchein to be first, rule; see archi-

Explanation

An archon is a leader. It could refer to the President of the United States, a top personality of the fashion world, or a really important person in dog training circles. This term, while often used in a general, poetic sense, was also a title in Ancient Greece. It was often used for a chief magistrate, or a person who enforces the law. Archon comes from a Greek word meaning "to be first." The arch- part of this root word is shared with monarch, another type of leader, and with the arch- in words like archbishop, a head bishop.

Example Sentences

And Khomeini is the archon of the oilfields Khuzestan is a land of extreme contrasts.

From Time Magazine Archive

An estimated 2,000,000 Americans will visit Europe this year, and an impressive number of them will follow a trail carefully blazed in advance by Temple Hornaday Fielding, at 55 the archon of U.S. guidebook writers.

From Time Magazine Archive

The mullah has become the archon of the oilfields.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the inmost shrine of the temple a mystic sacrifice for the welfare of the State was offered by the Basilissa and the fourteen ladies of honor expressly appointed by the archon for this purpose.

From Greek Women by Carroll, Mitchell

This was in the fourth year of the twenty-third Olympiad: the office of archon at Athens was then made annual; and Anaxander and Anaxidamus reigned at Sparta.

From The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Macedonians and Grecians (Vol. 1 of 6) by Rollin, Charles