Epistoleus
ἐπιστολεύς
Epistoleus (ἐπιστολεύς) was the officer second in rank in the Spartan fleet, and succeeded to the command if anything happened to the ναύαρχος, or admiral (Pollux, 1.96; Xen. Hell. 1.1, § 23, 4.8.11, 5.1, § § 5, 6; once ἐπιστολιάφορος, 6.2.25). When the Chians and other allies of Sparta on the Asiatic coast sent to request that Lysander might be reappointed to the command in the Aegaean, he was sent with the title of ἐπιοτολεύς, because the laws of Sparta did not permit the same person to hold the office of ναύαρχος twice (Xen. Hell. 2.1, § 7; Plut. Lys. 7). (Cf. Schömann, Antiq. 1.248, 287, E. T.; Gilbert, Staatsalterth. 1.64; NAVARCHUS)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.