Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In ancient Greece, the chief or head of a tribe; in Athens, the commander of the cavalry of a tribe, the ten phylarchs being under the orders of the two state hipparchs, the commanders-in-chief of the cavalry.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Gr. Antiq.) The chief of a phyle, or tribe.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The ruler of a phyle in Ancient Greece.
  • noun A tribal chief, magistrate, or other local ruler.
  • noun Athenian hipparch, head of an Athenian clan in battle.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin phylarchus, from Greek φυλαρχος, from φυλη ‘large clan or tribe of ancient Greece’.

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Examples

  • And the tribes of the city have no other than one common phylarch, which is the court of aldermen and the common council, for which cause they elect not at their muster the first list called the prime magnitude.

    The Commonwealth of Oceana James Harrington 1644

  • Nor is it reasonable to suppose that they will be deaf to such an argument, since the very desire to hold the office of phylarch itself proclaims a soul alive to honour and ambition.

    The Cavalry General 2007

  • The other day in the Market I saw a phylarch with flowing ringlets; he was on horseback, and was pouring into his helmet the broth he had just bought at an old dame's still.

    Lysistrata 2000

  • 'Tother day in the Market I saw a phylarch with flowing ringlets; he was a-horseback, and was pouring into his helmet the broth he had just bought at an old dame's stall.

    The Eleven Comedies, Volume 1 446? BC-385? BC Aristophanes

  • A phylarch I lately saw, mounted on horse-back, dressed for the part with long ringlets and all,/Stow in his helmet the omelet bought steaming from an old woman who kept a food-stall.

    Lysistrata 446? BC-385? BC Aristophanes

  • These sheikhs were acknowledged as such by the Roman emperors who gave them the title of phylarch.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913

  • This word is used to denote the phylarch or chief of a tribe (Gen. 36: 15-43; Ex. 15: 15; 1 Chr. 1: 51-54).

    Easton's Bible Dictionary M.G. Easton 1897

  • Nor is it reasonable to suppose that they will be deaf to such an argument, since the very desire to hold the office of phylarch itself proclaims a soul alive to honour and ambition.

    The Cavalry General 431 BC-350? BC Xenophon 1874

  • All and every one of these magistrates, together with the justices of peace, and the jurymen of the hundreds, amounting in the whole number to threescore and six, are the prerogative troop or phylarch of the tribe.

    The Commonwealth of Oceana James Harrington 1644

  • They have power also to put such national ministers, as in preaching shall intermeddle with matters of government, out of their livings, except the party appeals to the phylarch, or to the Council of Religion, where in that case the censors shall prosecute.

    The Commonwealth of Oceana James Harrington 1644

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