Harmost () was a

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

n term for a

military governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' may ...

. The Spartan general

Lysander Lysander (; ; 454 BC – 395 BC) was a Spartan military and political leader. He destroyed the Athenian fleet at the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC, forcing Athens to capitulate and bringing the Peloponnesian War to an end. He then played ...

instituted several harmosts during the period of

Spartan hegemony Spartan hegemony refers to the period of dominance by Sparta in Greek affairs from 404 to 371 BC. Even before this period the polis of Sparta was the greatest Spartan army, military land power of classical Ancient Greece, Greek antiquity and govern ...

after the end of the

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

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 Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or thr ...

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, such that the grammarian

Dionysius The name Dionysius (; ''Dionysios'', "of Dionysus"; ) was common in classical and post-classical times. Etymologically it is a nominalized adjective formed with a -ios suffix from the stem Dionys- of the name of the Greek god, Dionysus, parallel ...

thought that harmost was merely another word for "king". In the

peace of Antalcidas The King's Peace (387 BC) was a peace treaty guaranteed by the Persian King Artaxerxes II that ended the Corinthian War in ancient Greece. The treaty is also known as the Peace of Antalcidas, after Antalcidas, the Spartan diplomat who traveled to ...

the Lacedaemonians pledged to reestablish free governments in their subject towns, but they nevertheless continued to install harmosts in them. Even

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

, generally pro-Spartan, censured the Spartans for the manner in which they allowed their harmosts to govern. 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, it is not improbable that the office of harmost was of the same duration. The

Thebans Thebes ( ; , ''Thíva'' ; , ''Thêbai'' .) is a city in Boeotia, Central Greece, and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is the largest city in Boeotia and a major center for the area along with Livadeia and ...

also used the term during the Theban hegemony. There is an earlier use of the word in a scholium to

Pindar Pindar (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...

's odes, but the meaning isn't explained. It has been proposed that these were officials sent as overseers into the

Perioeci The Perioeci or Perioikoi (, ) were the second-tier citizens of the ''polis'' of Sparta until 200 BC. They lived in several dozen cities within Spartan territories (mostly Laconia and Messenia), which were dependent on Sparta. The ''perioeci'' ...

.''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'', Perioeci
/ref>

References

Military ranks of Sparta Ancient Greek government {{AncientGreece-stub

See also

References