Editing Archon (section)

==Ancient Greece==
In the early literary period of [[ancient Greece]], the chief [[magistrates]] of various Greek city states were called ''archontes''.{{sfn|Mitchell|1911|p=444}} The term was also used throughout Greek history in a more general sense, ranging  from "club leader" to "master of the tables" at ''[[syssitia]]'' to "Roman governor".{{Citation needed|date=May 2007}}

In [[Athens]], a system of three concurrent archons evolved, the three office holders being known as  ''[[archon eponymos]]'' ({{lang|grc|ἄρχων ἐπώνυμος}}), the ''[[polemarch]]'' ({{lang|grc|πολέμαρχος}}), and the ''[[archon basileus]]'' ({{lang|grc|ἄρχων βασιλεύς}}).{{sfn|Mitchell|1911|p=444}} According to [[Aristotle]]'s ''[[Constitution of the Athenians (Aristotle)|Constitution of the Athenians]]'', the power of the king first devolved to the archons, and these offices were filled from the aristocracy by elections every ten years. During this period, the archon eponymos was the chief magistrate, the polemarch was the head of the armed forces, and the archon basileus was responsible for the civic religious arrangements. After 683 BC, the offices were held for only a single year, and the year was named after the archon eponymos. (Many ancient [[calendar]] systems did not number their years consecutively.) Although the process of the next transition is unclear, after 487 BC the archonships were assigned by lot to any citizen and the polemarch's military duties were taken over by a new class of generals known as ''[[strategoi]]''. The polemarch thereafter had only minor religious duties. The archon eponymos remained the titular head of state under [[democracy]], though of much reduced political importance. The archons were assisted by "junior archons", called ''thesmothetai'' (pl. of ''thesmothetēs''). After 487 BC, ex-archons were automatically enrolled as life members of the [[Areopagus]], though that assembly was no longer extremely important politically at that time.{{sfn|Mitchell|1911|p=445}}

Under the Athenian constitution, archons were also in charge of organizing festivals by bringing together poets, playwrights, actors, and city-appointed [[choregos|choregoi]] (wealthy citizen patrons). The archon would begin this process months in advance of a festival by selecting a chorus of three playwrights based on descriptions of the projected plays.  Each playwright would be assigned a choregos, also selected by the archon, from among the wealthy citizens who would pay all the expenses of costumes, masks, and training the chorus.  The archon also assigned each playwright a principal actor (the ''protagonist''), as well as a second and third actor. The City Dionysia, an ancient dramatic festival held in March in which tragedy, comedy, and satyric drama originated, was under the direction of one of the principal magistrates, the ''archon eponymos''.