Chiliarch is amilitary rank dating back toantiquity. Originally denoting the commander of a unit of about one thousand men (achiliarchy) in theMacedonian army, it was subsequently used as a Greek translation of aPersian officer who functioned as a kind ofvizier and of theRoman army'smilitary tribunes. It has subsequently been used for other similar ranks and positions in otherarmed forces.
TheEnglish termchiliarch wasborrowed fromLatinchiliarchus, atranscription ofGreekkhilíarkhos (χιλίαρχος) andkhiliárkhēs (χιλιάρχης), both meaning "commander of a thousand". The name has also occasionally been written aschiliarcha,chiliarchus,[1] orchiliarchos orcalqued asthousandman.
The chiliad or chiliarchy controlled by a chiliarch derives from Latinchiliarchia, from Greekkhiliarkhía (χιλιαρχία).[2]
In theAncient Macedonian army, a chiliarch was the commander of a 1024-strong chiliarchy ortaxis "order" of thepezhetairoi and thehypaspists heavy infantry, subdivided into 64 files (lochoi) of 16 men each. At the same time, officers known aspentakosiarchs ("commanders of 500") are also mentioned alongside the chiliarchs under bothAlexander the Great and in thePtolemaic armies, apparently as subordinate officers.[2]
In addition, the title of chiliarch was used as the Greek equivalent of theAchaemenid titlehazahrapatish (also transliteratedazarapateis). The Achaemenid army was organized on a decimal basis, and thehazahrapatish was the commander of themelophoroi (μηλοφόροι, "apple-bearers"), the 1,000-strong personal bodyguard of the Achaemenid kings. The latter often played a role analogous to that of amajordomo orvizier in later times.[2][3] The Persian office was in turn adopted by Alexander the Great, and first awarded toHephaestion and after Hephaestion's death toPerdiccas. Likewise,Antipater shortly before his death namedPolyperchon asstrategos autokrator, but then named his own sonCassander as chiliarch, and thereby "second in authority" according toDiodorus Siculus (XVIII.48.4–5). This Persian-inspired office did not survive into subsequentHellenistic practice.[2] However, it was revived by later Iranian dynasties: while its existence in theParthian Empire is unclear, it was certainly in existence in the 3rdcentury under theSasanian Empire (Middle Persian:hazārbed orhazāruft). According to the 5th-century Armenian historianElishe, it was equivalent towuzurg framadār orprime minister.[3] From Persian, the term also passed into Armenian ashazarapet andhazarwuxt.[3]
Later Greek authors employed the term chiliarch for theRomanmilitary tribunes, with thetribunus laticlavius in particular renderedχ[ε]ιλίαρχος πλατύσημος (ch[e]iliarchos platysemos).[2] In theByzantine Empire, the title was used as a more scholarly alternative to the rank ofdroungarios, chiefly in literary works, while in the later 10th century it became once more a technical term whenNikephoros II Phokas instituted 1,000-strong units termedchiliarchia ortaxiarchia and commanded by achiliarchos ortaxiarches.[4]
A chiliarch, in Russiantysiatskii (Russian:тысяцкий), was a military leader inKievan Rus' who commanded a people's volunteer army called aтысяча (tysyacha, or a thousand). In the Novgorod Republic, the chiliarch evolved into a judicial or commercial official and was elected fromboyars at aveche for a period of one year. Like theposadniks in Novgorod, the office was often held by one man for several years in a row and he was often succeeded by his son or another close relative, indicating that the office was held within clans and was not fully elective.[1] In cities with no veche, chiliarchies were appointed by theknyaz or prince from among the noble boyars and could hand down their post to their sons.In the Novgorod Republic, chiliarchs were considered representatives of ordinary ("black") people. Along with the role as military leaders, they were also supposed to supervise the city fortifications, convene veches, act as ambassadors and as judges in the commercial courts. Like the posadniks, in the 14th century the former chiliarchs maintained considerable political influence and privileges and were known as "Old Chiliarchs". The earliest documented chiliarch of Novgorod was Putyata.
Grand PrinceDmitry Donskoy, after the death of Vassily Vassilyevich Velyaminov in 1374, abolished the post, replacing it withvoyevodas andnamestniks. The chiliarch in Novgorod was abolished when Grand PrinceIvan III of Moscow conquered the city in 1478. It was abolished in Pskov in 1510 whenVasily III of Russia took that city.
The title was once again revived during theGreek War of Independence. In January 1822, theFirst National Assembly at Epidaurus decided to create an organizational framework for theirregular troops of the various independent war leaders, and instituted a number of chiliarchies (χιλιαρχίες), each composed of ten centuries (εκατονταρχίες) of a hundred men under ahecatontarch (εκατόνταρχος,ekatontarchos). Each chiliarchy was commanded by a chiliarch, with a small staff comprising a deputy chiliarch (υποχιλίαρχος,ypochiliarchos), a subaltern known astaxiarchos, a physician, a surgeon, a quartermaster and a priest.[5]
In 1828, the chiliarchies were reorganized and reduced to three, each now comprising two pentakosiarchies (πεντακοσιαρχίες) of five centuries each, comprising 1120 men in total. Each chiliarch had a small staff comprising an adjutant, a secretary, a priest, a doctor, a paymaster and a quartermaster, while a flag bearer and a trumpeter were allocated to each pentakosiarchy. The 1828-model chiliarchies were abolished after theBattle of Petra in July 1829, and thirteen light infantry battalions (tagmata) formed instead.[5]
The Hungarian rank ofezredes, literally "of a thousand", is the modern, commonly used abbreviation of the obsolete term ofezereskapitány, literally "captain of a thousand". (The termezereskapitány was used in theWar of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), theezredes has been used since theRevolutions of 1848.)
Anezredes is the leader of aregiment (about 1000–1500 men inHungary) and this rank is equivalent to the rank ofcolonel ormajor. The termezredes is used by the Hungarian army (officially theHungarian Defence Force) and police force too.
The Turkish rank ofbinbaşı, literally "head of a thousand", is equivalent to the Commonwealth and US rank ofMajor.
Analuf (Hebrew:אלוף,romanized: allūp̄ "chilliarch") is the term used in theIsrael Defense Forces (IDF) for officers who in other countries would have the rank ofgeneral,air marshal, oradmiral. There are five chiliarch ranks, constituting the fivehighest ranks in the IDF. The termaluf comes from aSemitic root meaning "thousand", making analuf the one who commands a thousand people. TheIsrael Defense Forces (IDF) is an integrated force,ranks are the same in all services.