Patronomi
πατρονόμοι
Patronomi (πατρονόμοι) were magistrates established by Cleomenes III. at Sparta in his reformed constitution, when he abolished both the γερουσία and the ephorate, and set up the πατρονόμοι to exercise, as it were, a paternal control over the whole state (Paus. 2.9, 1). His constitution came to an end after the battle of Sellasia, B.C. 221; and we find ephors and γερουσία again (Paus. 3.11, 2), but with diminished powers; for the πατρονόμοι were retained as the chief magistrates (called συνάρχοντες τῆς πατρονομίας, C. I. G. 1356). Apparently they were six in number; the chief, or πρέσβυς τῶν πατρονόμων, was the ἐπώνυμος of the state,--that is, he gave his name to the year, which the first ephor had formerly done. (Compare Philostr. Vit. Apoll. 4.32; Plut. An seni sit resp. ger. 24; Gilbert, Staatsalterth. 1.24, 26.)
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.