ἄρχοντας (archontas)

ἄρχοντας is an Ancient Greek form of ἄρχω, meaning “to begin; to rule, lead”.

It can also be a form of ἄρχων, “ruler, magistrate”. It is the accusative plural masculine noun.

Found 495 times in the Ancient Greek texts on Socratos.

Where it is used

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.78.4: … ίκῃ λύεσθαι κατὰ τὴν ξυνθήκην. εἰ δὲ μή, θεοὺς τοὺς ὁρκίους μάρτυρας ποιούμενοι πειρασόμεθα ἀμύνεσθαι πολέμου ἄρχοντας ταύτῃ ᾗ ἂν ὑφηγῆσθε.’

Plato, Republic 5.463: … ν δὲ ταῖς δημοκρατουμέναις αὐτὸ τοὔνομα τοῦτο, ἄρχοντας. τί δʼ ὁ ἐν τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ δῆμος; πρὸς τῷ πολίτας τί τοὺς ἄρχοντάς φησιν εἶναι; σωτῆράς τε καὶ ἐπικούρους, ἔφη. τί δʼ οὗτοι τὸν δῆμον; μισθοδότας τε καὶ τροφέας. οἱ δʼ ἐν ταῖς …

Basil, Saint, Bishop of Caesarea, Epistulae 199·6: Ἄρχοντας μέντοι ὀμνύειν, ἐπὶ τὸ κακοποιεῖν τοὺς ἀρχομένους, καὶ πάνυ θεραπεύεσθαι προσῆκε. θεραπεία δὲ τούτων διττή· μ …

All forms of ἄρχω (conjugation table)

Source: Socratos (socratos.org), a free reader for Ancient Greek and Latin. Grammar from the Perseus Treebank and Morpheus; dictionary entries from Liddell-Scott-Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA). Counts are from the texts on Socratos.