Protostates
A protostates (, "the one who stands first/in front"), in Ancient Greece, was the man in front of an "epistates" (the one who stands behind). 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 ("lochos") was called a "lochagos" (λοχαγός).