The Anthelan Amphictiony
An ancient Amphictyony, probably the earliest centred on the cult of Demeter at Anthele (Ἀνθήλη), which lay on the coast of Malis south of Thessaly. This was the locality of Thermopylae. Those living around the temple were named Amphictyones ("dwellers-round"). The twelve delegates to the Amphictiony met in spring and autumn, and were entitled Pylagorai ("gate-assemblers"). The immediate dwellers-round, presumably the first members were the small states Aeniania, Malis and Doris.Certainly Thessaly did have a share, including the states of the Boeotian tribes who lived around Thessaly (perioikoi, "living around"). Boeotia and Phokis the remotest may have joined during or after the "First Sacred War", which led to the defeat of the old priesthood and to a new control of the prosperity of the oracle at Delphi.
As a result of the war the Anthelan body was known thenceforth as the Delphic Amphictyony and became the official overseer and military defender of the Delphic cult. The name Hellenes, which was originally the name of a Boeotian tribe in Thessalic Phthia, (Achaea Phthiotis) may be related to the members of the league and may have been broadened to refer to all Greeks when the myth of their patriarch Hellen was invented.
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