amphictyonies

Religious influences were sometimes strong enough to bring about federations known as amphictyonies, or leagues of neighbors.

Early European History Hutton Webster

Had the national forces failed at the critical period of financial organization, and the States, bankrupt by the revolutionary struggle, been left in the lurch, the republic would have followed the usual course of disintegration displayed by federations from the time of the Greek amphictyonies down to that of the Holy Roman Empire.

Washington and his colleagues; a chronicle of the rise and fall of federalism Henry Jones Ford 1888