ĔPISTŎLEUS

( ἐπιστολεύς ), the officer second in rank in the Spartan fleet, who succeeded to the command if any thing happened to the navarch us ( ναυάρχος ) or admiral. When the Chians and the other allies of Sparta on the Asiatic coast sent to Sparta to request that Lysander might be again appointed to the command of the navy, he was sent with the title of epistoleus, because the laws of Sparta did not permit the same person to hold the office of navarch us twice. ĔPISTȲLĬUM ( ἐπιστύλιον ), properly, as the name implies, the architrave, or lower member of an entablature, which lies immediately over the columns. The word is sometimes also used for the whole of the entablature.