archons

Noun

archon (plural archontes or archons)

1. A chief magistrate of ancient Athens.
   • Hated by the archons of Athens for his fearless condemnation of municipal graft, he was hypocritically arraigned on a charge of corrupting Athenian youth.1980, Burgess, Earthly Powers
2. A person who claims the right to rule, or to exercise power or sovereign authority over other human beings.
3. A ruler, head of state or other leader.
   • But neither the midwife’s lore nor the caudlectures saved him from the archons of Sinn Fein and their noggin of hemlock.1922, James Joyce, Ulysses
4. A supernatural ruler of the cosmos.
   • Their claim to totality is like the cry of the archon Ialdabaoth that he was the Lord of the Universe and that there was nothing beyond him.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 83