πρόξενος

πρό (pró, “before”) +‎ ξένος (xénos, “strange, foreigner”)

πρόξενος • (próxenos) m or f (genitive προξένου); second declension

1. a public foreigner, public guest or friend, made so by an act of the state
   • Herodotus, Histories 8.136
   • Herodotus, Histories 8.143
   1. in ancient inscriptions the πρόξενος (próxenos) seems to be a public officer who had to do with registration of wills
2. a patron, protector
   • Aeschylus, The Suppliants 419, 492, 919, 920
   1. (as adjective) assisting, relieving
      • Palatine Anthology 1.28,4

The word expressed the same relation between a State and an individual of another State, that ξένος (xénos) expressed between individuals of different States;, (but the relation between two States was also expressed by ξενία (xenía) (Hdt. 6.21). In time this relation assumed a formal, diplomatic character, and the πρόξενος (próxenos) enjoyed his privileges under the condition of entertaining and assisting the ambassadors and citizens of the State which he represented, so that the πρόξενοι (próxenoi) answered pretty nearly to our Consuls, Agents, Residents, though the πρόξενος (próxenos) was always a member of the foreign State. The office was at first probably self-chosen (compare ἐθελοπρόξενος Thuc. 3. 70), but soon became matter of appointment : the πρόξενος (próxenos) was bound so to identify himself with the people he represented, that their country became to him a second country. Plat. Legg. 642 B. At Athens and in other Greek States, every State chose its own πρόξενος (próxenos); at Sparta the πρόξενοι (próxenoi) were appointed by the Kings (Hdt. 6. 57) or by the People (C. I. 1335, Diog. L. 2. 51). As examples of Athenian πρόξενοι (próxenoi) in foreign states, we find Pindar at Thebes, Thucydides at Pharsalus, Doxander at Mytilene, Isocr. Antid. § 179 = 166, Thuc. 8. 92, Arist. Pol. 5. 4, 6 ; compare Thuc. 2. 29., 3. 2, Aeschin. 90. 23, etc. ; as Spartan πρόξενοι (próxenoi) at Athens, Cimon, Alcibiades and Callias, Andoc. 23. 43, Thuc. 5. 43., 6. 89, Xen. Hell. 5. 4, 22 ; so, at Athens, Nicias was πρόξενος (próxenos) of Syracuse, Diod. 13. 27; Demosthenes and Thraso of Thebes, Aeschin. 46. 42 sq., 73. 20 ; at Sparta, Lichas was πρόξενος (próxenos) of Argos, Thuc. 5. 76; Pharax of Boeotia, Xen. Hell. 4. 5, 6 ; Clearchus of Byzantium, lb. i. 1, 35 ; Polydamas of Thessaly, lb. 6. 1, 4. Tyrants also and barbarian States had their πρόξενοι (próxenoi), compare Id. An. 5. 4, 2., 5. 6, 11. At Delphi there seems to have been a set of official πρόξενοι (próxenoi), not attached to any special states, Eur. Ion 551, 1039, Andr. 1103; compare the Δελφοὶ ξεναγέται (Delphoì xenagétai) of Pind. N. 7. 63. The προξενία (proxenía) sometimes was exercised by whole families and became an hereditary office, Thuc. 3. 2 and 85., 5. 43, Xen. Symp. 8, 39. The Athenian πρόξενοι (próxenoi) had (as we know) special privileges when they visited Athens, such as ἰσοτέλεια (isotéleia), προεδρία (proedría), etc., Dem. 475. 10, Dinarch. 95. fin.—On their duties, v. Dem. 1237. 17, compare Herm. Pol. Ant. § n6. 4, Ulrich de Proxenia (Berl. 1832), Meier de Pr. (Hal. 1843).

• πρόξενος in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• πρόξενος in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• πρόξενος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• πρόξενος in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • Proxenus idem, page 1023.
  • agent idem, page 18.
  • consul idem, page 165.
  • minister idem, page 531.
  • patron idem, page 599.
  • patroness idem, page 599.
  • protector idem, page 653.
  • protectress idem, page 653.
  • representative idem, page 698.

προ- (pro-, “for”) +‎ ξένος (xénos, “stranger”)

πρόξενος • (próxenos) m or f (plural πρόξενοι)

1. (diplomacy) consul

• see: προξενείο n (proxeneío, “consulate”)

From Ancient Greek προξενῶ (proxenô)

πρόξενος • (próxenos) m or f (plural πρόξενοι)

1. cause