Polemarch

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A polemarch (Greek πολέμαρχος for "warlord") was a military title in ancient Greece. In ancient Sparta, a polemarch was in charge of a Spartan brigade. In ancient Athens a polemarch was one of the magistrates called archons. Originally, the polemarch was a commander of the army, but after 487/486 BC, when the Athenian magistrates were appointed by lot, the military duties were handled by the strategoi. This office also had religious and legal functions.

In modern use, some fraternities, notably Kappa Alpha Psi, label their chapters' leaders as Polemarches.

Fictional uses

This position was featured in Orson Scott Card's novel Ender's Game. In the novel, the position of Polemarch was charged with the supreme command of humanity's space fleets. The Polemarch, along with the positions of Strategos and Hegemon, was one of the three most powerful people alive. Because of a belief in their inherent luck and brilliance, all three positions were originally filled with Jewish people — an American Jew as Hegemon, an Israeli Jew as Strategos, and a Russian Jew as Polemarch — but by the time of the Formic defeat, this superstition had died.

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Last updated on Friday January 11, 2008 at 14:25:28 PST (GMT -0800)
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