Ar'chon, n.

n. [Lat. archon, Gr. ἄρχων, ruler, chief magistrate, p. pr. of ἄρχειν, to be first, to rule.] (Antiq.) One of the chief magistrates, nine in number, who had charge of civil and religious concerns in ancient Athens.

☞ The first was properly the archon; the second was called king; the third, polemarch, or general of the forces. The other six were called thesmothetæ, or legislators, not because they enacted laws, but because they declared and explained them. Wm. Smith.