Harmost (from Ancient Greekἁρμοστής (harmostḗs) 'joiner, adaptor') was a Spartan term for a military governor. The Spartan general Lysander instituted several harmosts during the period of Spartan hegemony after the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. They were sent into their subject or conquered towns, partly to keep them in submission, and partly to abolish the democratic form of government, and establish oligarchies instead.
Although in many cases they were ostensibly sent for the purpose of abolishing the tyrannical government of a town and restoring freedom, they were accused of acting like kings or tyrants themselves,[citation needed] such that the grammarian Dionysius thought[citation needed] that harmost was merely another word for "king".
In the peace of Antalcidas the Lacedaemonians pledged to reestablish free governments in their subject towns, but they nevertheless continued to install harmosts in them.[1] Even Xenophon, generally pro-Spartan, censured the Spartans for the manner in which they allowed their harmosts to govern.[2]
It is uncertain how long the office of an harmost lasted; but considering that a governor of the same kind, who was appointed by the Lacedaemonians in Cythera, with the title of Cytherodikes, held his office only for one year,[3] it is not improbable that the office of harmost was of the same duration.
There is an earlier use of the word in a scholium to Pindar's odes, but the meaning isn't explained. It has been proposed that these were officials sent as overseers into the Perioeci.[4]
harmost, from, ancient, greek, ἁρμοστής, harmostḗs, joiner, adaptor, spartan, term, military, governor, spartan, general, lysander, instituted, several, harmosts, during, period, spartan, hegemony, after, peloponnesian, they, were, sent, into, their, subject, . Harmost from Ancient Greek ἁrmosths harmostḗs joiner adaptor was a Spartan term for a military governor The Spartan general Lysander instituted several harmosts during the period of Spartan hegemony after the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC They were sent into their subject or conquered towns partly to keep them in submission and partly to abolish the democratic form of government and establish oligarchies instead Although in many cases they were ostensibly sent for the purpose of abolishing the tyrannical government of a town and restoring freedom they were accused of acting like kings or tyrants themselves citation needed such that the grammarian Dionysius thought citation needed that harmost was merely another word for king In the peace of Antalcidas the Lacedaemonians pledged to reestablish free governments in their subject towns but they nevertheless continued to install harmosts in them 1 Even Xenophon generally pro Spartan censured the Spartans for the manner in which they allowed their harmosts to govern 2 It is uncertain how long the office of an harmost lasted but considering that a governor of the same kind who was appointed by the Lacedaemonians in Cythera with the title of Cytherodikes held his office only for one year 3 it is not improbable that the office of harmost was of the same duration The Thebans also used the term during the Theban hegemony There is an earlier use of the word in a scholium to Pindar s odes but the meaning isn t explained It has been proposed that these were officials sent as overseers into the Perioeci 4 See also editEpiscopi Epistates Phrourarch Dictionary of Greek and Roman AntiquitiesReferences edit Polybius 4 27 Xenophon De Rep Lac C 14 Thucydides 4 53 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities Perioeci nbsp Look up harmost in Wiktionary the free dictionary nbsp This Ancient Greece related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Harmost amp oldid 1221169805, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
