Pōl'e-mārch, n.

n. [Gr. πολέμαρχος, from πόλεμος, war, and ἀρχός, leader, fr. ἄρχειν, to be first, to lead; Fr. polémarque.] (Gr. Antiq.) In Athens, originally, the military commander-in-chief; but, afterward, a civil magistrate who had under his care all strangers and sojourners in the city.

There were also in Sparta, Thebes, and other parts of Greece, polemarchs, who were high officers, exercising both military and civil functions.