A protostates (Greek: πρωτοστάτης, lit. 'the one who stands first/in front'),^[1] 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.^[2] The term remained in use into the Byzantine Empire. The foremost protostates of a file (lochos) was called a lochagos (λοχαγός).

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