Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Acephali

For works with similar titles, see Acephali.

​Acephali (from ἀ privative, and κεφαλή, a head), a term applied to several sects as having no head or leader; and in particular to a sect that separated itself, in the end of the 5th century, from the rule of the patriarchs of Alexandria, and remained without king or bishop for more than 300 years (Gibbon, c. xlvii.)

Acephali was also the name given to the levellers in the reign of Henry I., who are said to have been so poor as to have no tenements, in virtue of which they might acknowledge a superior lord.

​Acephali, or Acephalous Persons, fabulous monsters, described by some ancient naturalists and geographers as having no heads.

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