Chiliarch

Chiliarch (Greek: χιλίαρχος, meaning "commander of a thousand"), in the Greek army of the Hellenistic period, was a commander of a 1,000 men unit, roughly equivalent to a modern battalion. The office was an adaptation by Alexander the Great of the Persian Achaemenid empire's hazarapatish. A chiliarch held duties both martial and civil. Alexander the Great first awarded this rank to Hephaestion Amyntoros, but after Hephaestion's death it was awarded to Perdiccas. The rank continued in use in later ages: Greek writers wrote of "chiliarchs" when referring to the Roman legionary tribunes, and in the Byzantine army, the title was used as an alternative to that of the droungarios and the taxiarches. Later still, during the Greek Revolution, the title was given as a rank to significant kapetans, leaders of the irregular bands that made up most of the Greek rebels' army.

External links

• Chiliarchy - dictionary definition
• Glossary of Greek Military Positions