Protostates
A protostates, in Ancient Greece, was the man in front of an epistates. The Greek phalanx was made up of alternate ranks of protostates and epistates. Thus, in a file of eight men, the protostates were the men in positions 1,3,5 and 7, while the epistates occupied positions 2,4,6 and 8. The term remained in use into the Byzantine Empire. The foremost protostates of a file was called a lochagos.
