Phratry

In ancient Greece, a phratry was a group containing citizens in some city-states, known to have existed in most Ionian cities and in Athens and thought to have existed elsewhere as well. Within Athens a phratry played a prominent role in social and religious life, particularly in the major festival called the Apatouria, and phratry membership was central to determining eligibility for Athenian citizenship, since all citizens and only citizens were enrolled in one. In anthropology the term is also applied more broadly to similar descent groups uniting multiple clans in other societies.