ÆCHMALOTARCHA, in Antiquity, a Greek Term, signifying, Chief or Leader of the Captives. The Jews who refused to follow Zerubbabel, and return with him to Jerusalem, after the Babylonish Captivity; created an Aechmalotarcha, to govern them.—Not that the Jews themselves called him by this Name, as some Authors have asserted; for that People spoke Hebrew, or Chaldean, not Greek. But Origen, and others, who wrote in the Greek Tongue, rendered the Hebrew Name rosh galut, q. d. Chief of the Captivity, by a Greek Name of the like import, aechmalotarcha, formed from aichme, a Point or Pike, and archon, Command. However, the Jews must have had Officers of this kind before the Return from Babylon; Witness the History of Susannah; the two Elders who condemned her, being Aechmalotarchae that Year.—The Jewish Writers assure us, that the Aechmalotarchae were only to be chosen out of the Tribe of Judah.
