Ethnarch (pronounced , also ethnarches, ) is political leadership over a common ethnic group or homogeneous kingdom.
The word is derived from the Greek words (ethnos, "tribe/nation") and (archon, "leader/ruler"). Strong's Concordance gives the definition of 'ethnarch' as "the governor (not king) of a district".
Antiquity
The title first appeared in the Hellenistic Middle East, possibly in Judea. In the First book of Maccabees the word is used three times (1 Maccabees 14:47 and 15:1-2), where Simon Thassi is referred to as the high priest and ethnarch of the Judeans.
It was used in the region even after it fell under the dominion of Rome, and into the early Roman Empire, to refer to rulers of vassal kingdoms who did not rise to the level of kings. The Romans used the terms natio and gens for a people as a genetic and cultural entity, regardless of political statehood.
The best-known is probably Herod Archelaus, son of Herod the Great, who was ethnarch of Samaria, Judea (Biblical Judah), and Idumea (Biblical Edom), from the death of his father in 4 BC to AD 6. This region is known as the Tetrarchy of Judea. His brother Philip received the north-east of the realm and was styled Tetrarch (circa 'ruler of a quarter'); and Galilee was given to Herod Antipas, who bore the same title. Consequently, Archelaus' title singled him out as the senior ruler, higher in rank than the tetrarchs and the chief of the Jewish nation; these three sovereignties were in a sense reunited under Herod Agrippa from AD 41 to 44.
Previously, Hyrcanus II, one of the later Hasmonean rulers of Judea, had also held the title of ethnarch, as well as that of High Priest.
In the New Testament the word is used only once by the Apostle Paul in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 11:32). In a Christian context, where ethnikos meant "pagan," some Church Fathers used the term ethnarches to designate pagan national gods. In more recent times, it has also been attributed to Konstantinos Karamanlis.
In the context of modern Cyprus, the term nearly always refers to Archbishop Makarios. Makarios was the last Archbishop to hold a double religious (Archebishop) and political (Leader of the Greek Cypriots) role under foreign rule, similar to the Ecumenical Patriarch under the Millet system. This regime, called the Ethnarchy, was retained during the British rule in Cyprus and survived in practice until independence in 1960. Additionally, Makarios became the first President of Cyprus after independence.
Unlike Venizelos and Karamanlis, who are rarely ever called ethnarches in such uses, streets of major Greek cities are named after Makarios:
Notes
References and sources
;References
;Bibliography
- Flavius Josephus
- STRONGS NT 1481: ἐθνάρχης. Strong's Concordance (Bible Hub). Retrieved: 18 August 2014.
- Γεώργιος Γρατσέας. "Έθνάρχης." Θρησκευτική και Ηθική Εγκυκλοπαίδεια (ΘΗΕ). Τόμος 5 (Διοκλητιανός-Ζώτος). Αθηναι – Αθαν. Μαρτινος, 1964. σελ. 351.