TAXIARCHI
TAXIARCHI (
ταξίαρχοι) were
military officers at Athens, who were next in rank to the strategi [
STRATEGUS]. They were ten in
number, like the strategi, one for each tribe, and were elected in the same
way, namely by
χειροτονία (Dem.
Phil. i. p. 47, § § 26, 27; Pollux,
8.87). In war each commanded the infantry of his own tribe (Dem.
c.
Boeot. i. p. 999.17; Aesch.
de fals. Leg.
§ 169), and they were sometimes, at any rate, summoned to the
council of war (
Thuc. 7.60). In peace they
assisted the strategi in levying and enlisting soldiers; the preparation of
the register (
κατάλογος) of those liable to
service rested upon the demarchs for each deme, and the taxiarchs as
representing the tribes, under the strategi. They might also be called upon
to act as the deputies of the strategi in military trials (Dem.
c.
Boeot.
l.c.).
The taxiarchs were so called from their commanding
τάξεις, which were the principal divisions of the hoplites
in the Athenian army. Each tribe (
φυλὴ)
formed a
τάξις, whence we find
φυλὴ used as synonymous with
τάξις <(Lys.
in Agorat.
§ § 79, 82). As there were ten tribes, there were
consequently in a complete Athenian army ten
τάξεις, but the number of men contained in each would of course
vary according to the importance of the war. Among the other Greeks the
τάξεις was the name of a much smaller
division of troops. The
λόχος among the
Athenians was a subdivision of the
τάξις,
and the
λοχαγοὶ were probably appointed by
the taxiarchs (Schömann,
Ant. Jur. Publ. p. 253
ff.).
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