Archon basileus

Archon basileus (Ancient Greek: ἄρχων βασιλεύς, árchōn basileús) was a Greek title, meaning "king magistrate"; the term is derived from the words archon "magistrate" and basileus "king" or "sovereign".

Although much of his powers, they say, had been filtered away to other institutions such as the Areopagus and later the Boule and Ecclesia, he still nominally held a high position in Athenian society, alongside the archon eponymos and the polemarchos.

The archon basileus was charged with overseeing the organisation of religious rites and with presiding over trials for homicide.

After 683 BC, the office was only held for a year, and after Solon's reforms, he was elected from the wealthiest Athenians, the Pentakosiomedimnoi (Πεντακοσιομέδιμνοι), "500-bushel men", rather than the Eupatridae (the aristocratic families).

It is believed the archon basileus's wife, the basilinna, had to marry and have intercourse with the god Dionysos during a festival at the Boukoleion in Athens, to ensure the city's safety.