Greek Antiq. Also kleruch. [ad. Gr. κληροῦχος allottee, f. κλῆρος lot + ἔχειν to have, hold.] At Athens, a citizen who received an allotment of land in a foreign country, but retained his rights as a citizen at home.
1847. Grote, Greece, II. xxxi. (1849), IV. 229. These Attic Klêruchs (I can find no other name by which to speak of them) did not lose their birthright as Athenian citizens: they were not colonists in the Grecian sense.
1869. Rawlinson, Anc. Hist., 147. The cleruchs were merely citizens of their old state, to whom special duties had been assigned and certain benefits granted.
Hence Cleruchial, Cleruchic [Gr. κληρουχικός] adjs., of or pertaining to cleruchs. Cleruchy [Gr. κληρουχία], allotment of land among cleruchs; collect. a body of cleruchs.
1838. Thirlwall, Greece, V. 241. Cleruchial possessions. Ibid., V. xliii. 258. A body of cleruchial colonists was sent … there.
1847. Grote, Greece, II. l. (1862), IV. 365. The kleruchic allotment of the island. Ibid., II. xxxi. (1849), IV. 230. The numerous Klēruchies sent out by Athens.
1869. A. W. Ward, trans. Curtius’ Greece, II. III. iii. 485. These Cleruchies excited the deepest feelings of hatred against Athens.
