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{{Short description|Military rank}}
'''Chiliarch''' is a [[military rank]] dating back to [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]]. Originally denoting the commander of a unit of about one thousand men (a '''chiliarchy''') in the [[Ancient Macedonian army|Macedonian army]], it was subsequently used as a Greek translation of a [[Military history of Iran#Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE)|Persian officer]] who functioned as a kind of [[vizier]] and of the [[Roman army]]'s [[military tribune]]s. It has subsequently been used for other similar ranks and positions in other [[military|armed forces]].

{{anchor|Etymology}}

==Name==
The [[English language|English]] term ''chiliarch'' was [[borrowing (linguistics)|borrowed]] from [[Latin language|Latin]] {{lang|la|chiliarchus}}, a [[romanization of Greek|transcription]] of [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]] ''khilíarkhos'' ({{lang|grc|χιλίαρχος}}) and ''khiliárkhēs'' ({{lang|grc|χιλιάρχης}}), both meaning "commander of a thousand". The name has also occasionally been written as '''chiliarcha''', '''chiliarchus''',<ref name=eb1>{{citation |last= |first= |editor-last=Smellie |editor-first=William |editor-link=William Smellie |display-editors=0 |contribution=[[:s:Encyclopædia Britannica, First Edition/Chiliarcha|Chiliarcha]] |title=[[:s:EB1|Encyclopaedia Britannica]] |edition=1st |volume=II |date=1771 |location=Edinburgh |publisher=[[Colin Macfarquhar]] }}.</ref> or '''chiliarchos''' or [[calque]]d as '''thousandman'''.

The chiliad or chiliarchy controlled by a chiliarch derives from Latin {{lang|la|chiliarchia}}, from Greek ''khiliarkhía'' ({{lang|grc|χιλιαρχία}}).<ref name="PW">{{cite encyclopedia|year=1899|title=Chiliarchos|encyclopedia=[[Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft]]|last=Brandis|first=Karl Georg|volume=Band III, Halbband 6, [[Campanus ager]]-Claudius|pages=2275–2276}}</ref>

== Ancient Macedon and Persia ==
In the [[Ancient Macedonian army]], a chiliarch was the commander of a 1024-strong chiliarchy or {{Transliteration|grc|taxis}} "order" of the {{Transliteration|grc|[[pezhetairoi]]}} and the [[hypaspists]] heavy infantry, subdivided into 64 files ({{Transliteration|grc|[[lochoi]]}}) of 16 men each. At the same time, officers known as [[pentakosiarch]]s ("commanders of 500") are also mentioned alongside the chiliarchs under both [[Alexander the Great]] and in the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic]] armies, apparently as subordinate officers.<ref name="PW"/>

In addition, the title of chiliarch was used as the Greek equivalent of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] title {{Transliteration|peo|hazahrapatish}} (also transliterated {{Transliteration|grc|azarapateis}}). The Achaemenid army was organized on a decimal basis, and the {{Transliteration|peo|hazahrapatish}} was the commander of the {{Transliteration|grc|melophoroi}} ({{lang|grc|μηλοφόροι}}, "apple-bearers"), the 1,000-strong personal bodyguard of the Achaemenid kings. The latter often played a role analogous to that of a [[majordomo]] or [[vizier]] in later times.<ref name="PW"/><ref name="Iranica">{{Encyclopaedia Iranica | volume=5 | fascicle=4 | last = Gignoux | first = Philippe | title = Chiliarch| pages = 423–424 | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/chiliarch }}</ref> The Persian office was in turn adopted by Alexander the Great, and first awarded to [[Hephaestion]] and after Hephaestion's death to [[Perdiccas]]. Likewise, [[Antipater]] shortly before his death named [[Polyperchon]] as {{Transliteration|grc|[[strategos autokrator]]}}, but then named his own son [[Cassander]] as chiliarch, and thereby "second in authority" according to [[Diodorus Siculus]] (XVIII.48.4–5). This Persian-inspired office did not survive into subsequent [[Hellenistic]] practice.<ref name="PW"/> However, it was revived by later Iranian dynasties: while its existence in the [[Parthian Empire]] is unclear, it was certainly in existence in the 3rd [[century]] under the [[Sasanian Empire]] ([[Middle Persian]]: {{Transliteration|pal|[[hazārbed]]}} or {{Transliteration|pal|hazāruft}}). According to the 5th-century Armenian historian [[Elishe]], it was equivalent to {{Transliteration|pal|[[wuzurg framadār]]}} or [[prime minister]].<ref name="Iranica"/> From Persian, the term also passed into Armenian as [[wikt:հազարապետ|{{Transliteration|hy|hazarapet}}]] and {{Transliteration|hy|hazarwuxt}}.<ref name="Iranica"/>

==Roman and Byzantine Empires==
Later Greek authors employed the term chiliarch for the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[military tribune]]s, with the {{lang|la|[[tribunus laticlavius]]}} in particular rendered {{lang|grc|χ[ε]ιλίαρχος πλατύσημος}} ({{Transliteration|grc|ch[e]iliarchos platysemos}}).<ref name="PW"/> In the [[Byzantine Empire]], the title was used as a more scholarly alternative to the rank of {{Transliteration|el|[[droungarios]]}}, chiefly in literary works, while in the later 10th century it became once more a technical term when [[Nikephoros II Phokas]] instituted 1,000-strong units termed {{Transliteration|grc|chiliarchia}} or {{Transliteration|grc|taxiarchia}} and commanded by a {{Transliteration|grc|chiliarchos}} or {{Transliteration|grc|[[taxiarch]]es}}.<ref>{{Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, 565–1204| page=115}}</ref>

== Ancient Rus ==
{{main|Tysiatskii}}
A chiliarch, in Russian {{Transliteration|ru|tysiatskii}} ({{langx|ru|тысяцкий}}), was a military leader in [[Kievan Rus']] who commanded a people's volunteer army called a {{lang|ru|тысяча}} ({{Transliteration|ru|tysyacha}}, or a thousand). In the Novgorod Republic, the chiliarch evolved into a judicial or commercial official and was elected from [[boyars]] at a [[veche]] for a period of one year. Like the [[posadnik]]s 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 the [[knyaz]] 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 Prince [[Dmitry Donskoy]], after the death of Vassily Vassilyevich Velyaminov in 1374, abolished the post, replacing it with [[voivode|voyevoda]]s and [[namestnik]]s. The chiliarch in Novgorod was abolished when Grand Prince [[Ivan III of Moscow]] conquered the city in 1478. It was abolished in Pskov in 1510 when [[Vasily III of Russia]] took that city.

==Modern Greece==
The title was once again revived during the [[Greek War of Independence]]. In January 1822, the [[First National Assembly at Epidaurus]] decided to create an organizational framework for the [[irregular troops]] of the various independent war leaders, and instituted a number of chiliarchies ({{lang|el|χιλιαρχίες}}), each composed of ten centuries ({{lang|el|εκατονταρχίες}}) of a hundred men under a [[centurion|hecatontarch]] ({{lang|el|εκατόνταρχος}}, {{Transliteration|el|ekatontarchos}}). Each chiliarchy was commanded by a chiliarch, with a small staff comprising a deputy chiliarch ({{lang|el|υποχιλίαρχος}}, {{Transliteration|el|ypochiliarchos}}), a subaltern known as {{Transliteration|el|taxiarchos}}, a physician, a surgeon, a quartermaster and a priest.<ref name="Enc">{{Great Military and Naval Encyclopaedia | volume=6| page = 582}}</ref>

In 1828, the chiliarchies were reorganized and reduced to three, each now comprising two pentakosiarchies ({{lang|el|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 the [[Battle of Petra]] in July 1829, and thirteen light infantry battalions ({{Transliteration|el|[[tagma (military)|tagma]]ta}}) formed instead.<ref name="Enc"/>

== Hungary ==
The Hungarian rank of ''[[ezredes]]'', literally "of a thousand", is the modern, commonly used abbreviation of the obsolete term of ''ezereskapitány'', literally "captain of a thousand". (The term ''ezereskapitány'' was used in the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] (1701–1714), the ''ezredes'' has been used since the [[Revolutions of 1848]].)

An ''ezredes'' is the leader of a [[regiment]] (about 1000–1500 men in [[Hungary]]) and this rank is equivalent to the rank of [[colonel]] or [[Major (rank)|major]]. The term ''ezredes'' is used by the Hungarian army (officially the [[Hungarian Defence Force]]) and police force too.

== Turkey ==
The Turkish rank of ''[[binbaşı]]'', literally "head of a thousand", is equivalent to the Commonwealth and US rank of [[Major (rank)|Major]].

==Israel==
An [[aluf]] ({{langx|he|אלוף|translit=allūp̄}} "chilliarch") is the term used in the [[Israel Defense Forces]] (IDF) for officers who in other countries would have the rank of [[general]], [[air marshal]], or [[admiral]]. There are five chiliarch ranks, constituting the five [[Israel Defense Forces ranks|highest ranks]] in the IDF. The term ''aluf'' comes from a [[Semitic root]] meaning "thousand", making an ''aluf'' the one who commands a thousand people. The [[Israel Defense Forces]] (IDF) is an integrated force, [[Military rank|ranks]] are the same in all services.

*Chief chiliarch, ''Rav aluf'' ({{lang|he|רב-אלוף}}): the highest rank in [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] 
*Chiliarch, ''Aluf''
*Sub-chiliairch, '''Tat aluf'' ({{lang|he|תת-אלוף}})
*Secondary chiliarch, ''Aluf mishne'' ({{lang|he|אלוף-משנה}})
*Deputy chilairch, ''Sgan aluf'' ({{lang|he|סגן-אלוף}})

==See also==
* [[chiliad]], a group of 1000 things
* [[millennium]], a group of 1000 years
* [[Chiliast]], an alternative name for Millenarians

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last1=Charles |first1=Michael |title=The Chiliarchs of Achaemenid Persia: Towards a Revised Understanding of the Office |journal=Phoenix |date=2015 |volume=69 |issue=3/4 |pages=279–303 |doi=10.7834/phoenix.69.3-4.0279}}

[[Category:Military ranks of Greece]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek military terminology]]
[[Category:Military ranks of ancient Greece]]
[[Category:Military ranks of ancient Macedon]]
[[Category:Byzantine military offices]]
[[Category:Achaemenid Empire]]