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Strategos or strategus, plural strategoi, (
meaning "army leader") is used in Greek to mean military general. In
the Hellenistic world and the Byzantine Empire the term was also used to
describe a military governor. In the modern Hellenic Army it is the highest
officer rank.
Athens:
In its most famous attestation, in Classical Athens, the office of strategos
existed already in the 6th century, but it was only with the reforms of
Cleisthenes in 501 that it assumed its most recognizable form: Cleisthenes
instituted a board of ten strategoi who were elected annually, one from each
tribe (phyle). The ten were of equal status, and replaced the polemarchos, who
had hitherto been the senior military commander.
At the Battle of Marathon in 490 (according to Herodotus) they decided strategy
by majority vote, and each held the presidency in daily rotation. At this date
the polemarchos had a casting vote, and one view among modern scholars is that
he was the commander-in-chief; but from 486 onwards the polemarchos, like the
other archontes, was appointed by lot. The annual election of the strategoi was
held in the spring, and their term of office coincided with the ordinary
Athenian year, from midsummer to midsummer. If a strategos died or was
dismissed from office, a by-election might be held to replace him. The strict
adherence to the principle of a strategos from each tribe lasted until c.?440,
after which two strategoi could be selected from the same tribe and another
tribe be left without its own strategos, perhaps because no suitable candidate
might be available. This system continued at least until c.?356/7, but by the
time Aristotle wrote his Constitution of the Athenians in c.?330, the
appointments were made without any reference to tribal affiliation. Hence,
during the Hellenistic period, although the number of the tribes was increased,
the number of strategoi remained constant at ten. In the early part of the 5th
century, several strategoi combined their military office with a political
role, with Themistocles, Aristides, Cimon, or Pericles among the most notable;
nevertheless their power derived not from their office, but from their own
personal political charisma. As political power passed to the civilian rhetores
in the later 5th century, the strategoi were limited to their military duties.
Originally, the strategoi were appointed ad hoc to various assignments. On
campaign, several—usually up to three—strategoi might be placed
jointly in command. Unlike other Greek states, where the nauarchos commanded
the navy, the Athenian strategoi held command both at sea and on land. From the
middle of the 4th century, the strategoi increasingly were given specific
assignments, such as the strategos epi ten choran for the defence of Attica;
the strategos epi tous hoplitas, in charge of expeditions abroad; the two
strategoi epi ton Peiraia, responsible for the war harbour of Piraeus; and the
strategos epi tas symmorias, responsible for the equipment of the warships.
This was generalized in Hellenistic times, when each strategos was given
specific duties. One of them, the strategos epi ta hopla, ascended to major
prominence in the Roman period.
The Athenian people kept a close eye on their strategoi. Like other
magistrates, at the end of their term of office they were subject to euthyna
and in addition there was a vote in the ekklesia during every prytany on the
question whether they were performing their duties well. If the vote went
against anyone, he was deposed and as a rule tried by jury. Pericles himself in
430 was removed from office as strategos and fined, and in 406 the eight
strategoi who commanded the fleet at the Battle of Arginusae were all removed
from office and condemned to death.
Other Greek states:
The title of strategos appears for a number of other Greek states in the
Classical period, but it is often unclear whether this refers to an actual
office, or is used as a generic term for military commander. The strategos as
an office is attested at least for Syracuse from the late 5th century,
Erythrae, and in the koinon of the Arcadians in the 360s. The title of
strategos autokrator was also used for generals with broad powers, but the
extent and nature of these powers was granted on an ad hoc basis. Thus Philip
II of Macedon was elected as strategos autokrator (commander-in-chief with full
powers) of the League of Corinth.
Hellenistic and Roman use Under Philip II of Macedon, the title of strategos
was used for commanders on detached assignments as the quasi-representatives of
the king, often with a title indicating their area of responsibility, e.g.
strategos tes Europes ("strategos of Europe"). In several Greek city
leagues the title strategos was reserved for the head of state. In the Aetolian
League and the Achaean League, where the strategos was annually elected, he was
the eponymous chief of civil government and the supreme military commander at
the same time. Two of the most prominent leaders re-elected many times to the
office in the Achaean League, were Aratus of Sicyon and Philopoemen of
Megalopolis. Strategoi are also reported in the Arcadian League, in the Epirote
League and in the Acarnanian League, whereas the leaders of the Boeotian League
and the Thessalian League had different titles, Boeotarch and Tagus
respectively. In the Hellenistic empires of the Diadochi, notably Lagid Egypt,
for which most details are known, strategos became a gubernatorial office
combining civil with military duties.
In Egypt, the strategoi were originally responsible for the Greek military
colonists (klerouchoi) established in the country. Quickly, they assumed a role
in the administration alongside the nomarches, the governor of each of the
country's nomes, and the oikonomos, in charge of fiscal affairs. Already by the
time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (r. 283–246), the strategos was the head
of the provincial administration, while conversely his military role declined,
as the klerouchoi were progressively demilitarized. Ptolemy V Epiphanes (r.
204–181) established the office of epistrategos "over-general"
to oversee the individual strategoi. The latter had become solely civilian
officials, combining the role of the nomarches and the oikonomos, while the
epistrategos retained powers of military command. In addition, hypostrategoi
(sing. hypostrategos, could be appointed as subordinates. The Ptolemaic
administrative system survived into the Roman period, where the epistrategos
was subdivided in three to four smaller offices, and the procurator ad
epistrategiam was placed in charge of the strategoi. The office largely
retained its Ptolemaic functions and continued to be staffed by the Greek
population of the country.
The Odrysian kingdom of Thrace was also divided into strategiai
("generalships"), each headed by a strategos, based on the various
Thracian tribes and subtribes. At the time of the kingdom's annexation into the
Roman Empire in 46, there were 50 such districts, which were initially retained
in the new Roman province, and only gradually fell out of use. It was not until
c. 136 that the last of them were abolished.
Under the Roman Republic and later through the Principate, Greek historians
often used the term strategos when referring to the Roman political/military
office of praetor. Such a use can be found in the New Testament: Acts of the
Apostles 16:20 refers to the magistrates of Philippi as strategoi.
Correspondingly, antistrategos "vice-general" was used to refer to
the office of propraetor.
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