NAUARCHIA (Gr. vans,

See also:

• SHIP

ship, &pxii, command)  , the supreme command of the Spartan navy . The office was an annual one and could not be held more than once by the same man (Xen . Hell. ii. r . 7) . This law might be evaded in special cases; the new admiral might not be sent to take over the command until some time after his election, which took place at midsummer (Beloch in Philologus, xliii. p . 272 sqq.), and meanwhile his predecessor remained de facto admiral; or the retiring admiral might, after the expiry of his term, hold an appointment as secretary (HfLO'TO)^EUS) to one who, though titular admiral, was really placed under his orders or even kept at Sparta altogether . Being independent of the kings and hampered by no colleague, the nauarch wielded such power that Aristotle is hardly going too far when he says (Politics, ii . 9 . 22), i1 vavapxia o-xeShv Eripa i3aoLAEia KaOEO•TfKEe . He was subject only to the ephors, who, if he proved incompetent, could depose him (Thuc. viii . 39), though they usually preferred to send out an advisory committee (c ij3ouXot) . An admiral might appoint his E7rivroXEGs to command a portion, or even the whole, of the fleet, and if the former died in office the secretary succeeded to his post .

For a detailed discussion see J . Beloch, "

Die Nauarchie in Sparta," in the Rheinisches Museum, xxxiv . (1879) 117-130, where a complete list of nauarchs known to us will be found; regarding the time of the election this is corrected by a later article of the same writer (Philologus, loc. cit.) . See also A . Solari, Ricerche Spartane (Livorno, 1907), 1-58; G . Busolt, Staats- and Rechtsaltertumer " (Iwan Mailer's Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, iv.), § 96; G . E . Underhill's edition of Xenophon, Hellenica, i., ii., note on i . 5 . 1 . (M . N .