Dual PanelSynonym for: Tax-collector.
See Definition for \telwnhv\ 5057 See Definition for \arcitelwnhv\ 754
The Roman system of collecting taxes, especially the \teloi\, in their provinces, included ordinarily three grades of officials. There was the highest, called in Latin publicanus, who paid a sum of money for the taxes of a certain province, and then exacted that and as much more as he could from the province. This man lived in Rome. Then there were the submagistri, who had charge each of a certain portion of territory, and who lived in the provinces. Then there were the portitores, the actual custom-house officers, who did the real work of collecting the taxes. The N.T. word \telwnhv\ is used to describe one of the portitores; it is the lowest of these three grades. It does not correspond to the Latin publicanus, and the word publican used to translate it in A.V. and R.V. is apt to be misleading; tax-collector would be better.
\arcitelwnhv\, only occurring in Lu 19:2:, evidently describes a higher official than \telwnhv\, and is probably one of the submagistri, the next higher grade.