Definition: The word archon is applied to certain officials who were in time appointed by lot and held office for a limited period of time in ancient Athens.
In the time of kings, there is a legend that King Acastus surrendered his position in exchange for the position of archon. Originally archon was a lifetime appointment, but then a time limit was put on it so that it became an annually elected position. There came to be different times of archons including a polemarch in charge of war, an eponymous archon whose name was used for dating events and served as the civic magistrate and the king or basileus archon for religious affairs. Archon contains in it the root word arche which is found in archaeology and in the Bible, in the first sentence of the Gospel of John, where it is usually translated "beginning," but it also means "rule."
