dodecarchy
(ˈdəʊdɪkɑːkɪ)
[f. as prec. + Gr. -αρχία rule: cf. decarchy.]
Government by twelve rulers or kings; a ruling body of twelve.
| 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. v. §8 So that Egypt was anciently a dodecarchy, as England in the Saxons' time was a heptarchy. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xiii. 246 It was..a dodecarchy, of which the supremacy passed..first to one tribe and then to another. 1876 S. Birch Rede Lect. Egypt 39 Psammetichus..seized the moment to reduce the Assyrian Dodecarchy under his sway. |