Protostates
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
A protostates (Greek: πρωτοστάτης, lit. 'the one who stands first/in front'),[1] in Ancient Greece, was the man in front of an epistates (the one who stands behind). The Greek phalanx was made up of alternate ranks of protostates and epistates. Thus, in a file of eight men, the protostates were the men in positions 1, 3, 5 and 7, while the epistates occupied positions 2, 4, 6 and 8.[2] The term remained in use into the Byzantine Empire. The foremost protostates of a file (lochos) was called a lochagos (λοχαγός).
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Asclepiodotus, Tactica, 2.3
