PHYLACTERY

(Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.) An amulet or preservative against infection. The phylacteries of the Jews were derived from the injunction contained in Exodus, xiii. 9.; and consisted of slips of parchment inscribed with verses of the law, enclosed in cases, and worn during prayer on the arm and between the eyes. PHYLiE. (Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.) The tribes into %vhich the whole of Attica was divided in antiquity. Originally there were but four phylae, which were frequently remodelled, but remained the same in number till soon after the expulsion of the Pis i strati dae, when Cleisthenes caused their number to be increased to ten. What the precise nature of the change effected on this occasion was is not known, but it is probable that the new tribes embraced a large number of citizens that had been excluded from the former. The phylas were afterwards increased to twelve, by the addition of two in honour of An tigon us and his son Demetrius. The A then i an senate was composed of fifty delegates from each of these tribes. PHYLARCH. {Gr. i^vXot.^x*'^^^eroJ a phyle.) An A then i an officer appointed for each phyle or tribe, to superintend the registering of its members and other common duties. The title answers to that of the Roman tribune, but its functions never reached the same importance. [s. 939]