Demarchos

The dēmarchos (; plural δήμαρχοι, dēmarchoi), anglicized as Demarch, is a title historically given to officials related to civic administration. In ancient Athens the title was given to the elected chief magistrate of each of the demes of Attica. In later literature, the term was used as a translation of the Roman office of . In the Byzantine Empire the dēmarchos was the leader of one of the racing factions (then known as "demes") of the Hippodrome of Constantinople. Largely concerned with ceremonial in the early centuries, from the 11th century the title was applied to various administrative positions in Constantinople, until the end of the empire. In modern usage, the term is used for the mayor of a municipality.

==Ancient Greece== ===Athens=== In Classical Athens, the was the highest magistrate in each of the 139 demes (, , sing. , ) that comprised Attica after the reforms of Cleisthenes. The office lasted for one year, and was elected from the members of the deme (the δημώται, ), initially by direct vote, but by the end of the 4th century, he was usually elected by lot. The of Piraeus was initially appointed by the (i.e., the Athenian city-state), as was that of Oropus; these too eventually came to be elected by lot from among the entire Athenian citizen body. In some demes, the office was eponymous, i.e. it was used for dating, along with the names of the eponymous archons of the entire of Athens.