George Willis Botsford

“ AMPHICTYONY (Gr. ἀμφικτνονία, i.e. a body composed of ἀμφικτίονες, ἀμφικτύονες, “dwellers around”) , an association of ancient Greek communities centring in a shrine. As the extant sources do not define the term, and as they apply it to but five or six associations, the majority of which are little known, modern scholars are in doubt as to the essential character of the institution, and hesitate therefore to extend the name beyond this limited list. ”

“ When after the great war with Persia the Aegean cities under the leadership of Athens united in a political league (477 B.C.) , they chose as its centre the temple of the Delian Apollo, doubtless through a desire to connect the new alliance with the associations of the old amphictyony. How far the council and other institutions of the Delian confederacy were based upon the amphictyonic organization cannot be determined. The removal of the treasury to Athens in 454 B.C. deprived Delos of political importance, though the amphictyony continued. ”

“ The name of the council (pylaea) and of one set of deputies (pylagori) , together with the important place held in the amphictyony by the temple of Demeter at Anthela, near Thermopylae, suggests that this shrine was the original centre of the association. How and when Delphi became a second centre is quite uncertain. The council of the league included deputies of two different kinds—pylagori and hieromnemones. The latter were twenty-four in number, two from each tribe. As the league was originally made up of neighbours, the Dorian tribe must have comprised simply the inhabitants of Doris ”