φυλή

English (LSJ)

ἡ, (φύω) prop.,

   A like φῦλον, a race, tribe; but acc. to Dicaearch.Hist.9 a union formed in an organized community (whether πόλις or ἔθνος): hence, tribe, i.e.    I a body of men united    1 by supposed ties of blood and descent, clan, such as the three Dorian tribes, Rhetra ap.Plu.Lyc.6, Hdt.5.68, St.Byz. s. vv. Ὑλλεῖς, Δυμᾶνες, IG4.596 (Argos); of the four Ionic tribes, Hdt.5.69, Arist.Ath.8.3, Plu.Sol.19, etc.; of the Laconian, Hdt.4.145; of the old Roman, D.H.2.7, etc.; of the Persian, X.Cyr.1.2.5 and 12; of the Jewish, LXXNu.1.4, al. (but also of subdivisions of the tribe (σκῆπτρον), ib. 1 Ki.10.20.21), Ev.Matt.19.28, etc.    2 by local habitation, such as the ten local tribes at Athens formed by Cleisthenes, Hdt.5.69, 6.131, IG12.10.44, al.; or those formed by Servius at Rome, φ. τοπικαί, opp. γενικαί, D.H.4.14, cf. Plu. Rom.20; in Roman Egypt, BGU1113.3 (i B.C.), PFlor.39.4 (iv A. D.), etc., cf. (in general) Arist.Pol.1264a8, 1300a25, 1309a12, Pl. Lg.753c, etc.    3 subdivision of the priests in each Egyptian temple, OGI56.24 (Canopus, iii B. C.), PAmh.2.112.7 (ii A. D.), etc.    II military contingent furnished by a tribe, among the Athenians, Hdt.6.111, IG12.1085; ὁπλιτῶν Th.6.98, cf. 3.90, X.HG 4.2.19, Pl.Lg.755c, 755d; ταξίαρχος εἰς τὴν φυλὴν κατατάξας Lys.13.79.    2 representatives of a tribe, on political bodies, φυλῆς πρυτανευούσης, προεδρευούσης, IG1.26a16, SIG589.2 (Magn.Mae., ii B.C.), etc.    III of things, = γένος, kind, species, κατὰ φυλὰς διεκρίνομεν τὰ ἔπιπλα X.Oec.9.6.