   basileus () is a greek term and title that has signified various types of monarchs in history. its meaning is perhaps best known in english as "king" or "emperor". best known use of the title is by the byzantine emperors, but also has a longer history of use for persons of authority and sovereigns in ancient greece, as well as for the kings of modern greece. the feminine forms are basÃ­lissa, basÃ­leia, basilÃ­s, or the archaic basilinna, meaning "queen" or "empress". ==etymology== the etymology of basileus is unclear. the mycenaean form was *gÊ·asileus (linear b: , qa-si-re-u), denoting some sort of court official or local chieftain, but not an actual king. its hypothetical earlier proto-greek form would be *gÊ·atileus.andrew sihler (2008), new comparative grammar of greek and latin, p. 330. most linguists assume that it is a non-greek word that was adopted by bronze age greeks from a preexisting linguistic pre-greek substrate of the eastern mediterranean.r. s. p. beekes, etymological dictionary of greek, brill, 2009, p. 203. schindler (1976) argues for an inner-greek innovation of the -eus inflection type from indo-european material rather than a mediterranean loan. ==ancient greece== === original senses encountered on clay tablets === the first written instance of this word is found on the baked clay tablets discovered in excavations of mycenaean palaces originally destroyed by fire. the tablets are dated from the 15th century bc to the 11th century bc and are inscribed with the linear b script, which was deciphered by michael ventris in 1952 and corresponds to a very early form of greek. the word basileus is written as qa-si-re-u and its original meaning was "chieftain" (in o
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