ETNARCA (Gr. ἐθνάρχης). — Etymologically it means “head of a particular ethnic group.” The term, very rare in the classical world (it occurs in Lucian, Macrobii, 17), appears in use in the Semitic world.
A Nabataean sheikh bears the title of e. of King Areta (II Cor. 11, 32) in Damascus. Among the Jews, the first e. appears in the Maccabean period, when the Seleucid kings bestowed this title upon an authority representing the inhabitants of Judaea before the central government. In practice, this sanctioned the relationship of a vassal state with rather extensive powers (I Mach. 14, 47; 15, 2). The Romans restored the same hierarchy when they appointed the Hasmonaean Ireano (v.) e. of the Jews. Archelao (v.) saw the coveted title of king replaced by that of e. by Augustus.
Outside Palestine, the Jewish community of Alexandria is found to have been governed by an e., with sovereign powers in internal matters and great authority in dealings with the imperial government (Flavio Giuseppe, Antiq. Iud., XIV, 117).