Meanings
plural prytanes
- The priest or chief magistrate who presided over a prytaneum.
The priest of the city hearth was called "king", "prytane", or "archon". The term "prytane" was derived from the fact that he was the priest of the prytaneum, or local hearth.
1962, William Herbert Desmonde, Magic, Myth, and Money1 more example
This priest of the public hearth bore the name of king. Sometimes they gave him other titles. As he was especially the priest of the prytaneum, the Greeks preferred to call him the prytane; sometimes they also called him the archon.
1915, Albert Kocourek, John Henry Wigmore, Primitive and Ancient Legal Institutions - A board of magistrates presiding over a prytaneum.
Origin
- Ancient Greekπρύτανις
- Ancient Greekπρύτανις
- Englishprytane
Borrowed from Ancient Greek πρύτανις (prútanis).
More words from Ancient Greek
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Anagrams
Cite this entry
prytane. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prytane
“prytane.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prytane. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “prytane,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prytane.
Source: prytane on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.