amphictyony

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A league of neighboring ancient Greek states sharing a common religious center or shrine, especially the one at Delphi.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In Greek history, a league of peoples inhabiting neighboring territories or drawn together by community of origin or interests, for mutual protection and the guardianship in common of a central sanctuary and its rites. There were several such confederations, but the name is specially appropriated to the most famous of them, that of Delphi. This was composed of twelve tribes, and its deputies met twice each year, alternately at Delphi and at Thermopylæ. Its origin dates back to the beginnings of Grecian history, and it survived the independence of Greece. It exercised paramount authority over the famous oracular sanctuary of the Pythian Apollo and over the surrounding region, and conducted the Pythian games; and it constituted, though in an imperfect way, a national congress of the many comparatively small and often opposed states into which Greece was divided.

Wiktionary

1. n. A religious foundation or co-operative shared between Greek city states during the classical period, typically to support the temple or cult of a deity shared by the city states. Also used academically to refer to similar arrangements in non-Greek cultures.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Grecian Hist.) A league of states of ancient Greece; esp. the celebrated confederation known as the Amphictyonic Council. Its object was to maintain the common interests of Greece.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an association of neighboring states or tribes in ancient Greece; established originally to defend a common religious center