​HEGEMONY (Gr. ἡγεμονία, leadership, from ἡγεῖσθαι, to lead), the leadership especially of one particular state in a group of federated or loosely united states. The term was first applied in Greek history to the position claimed by different individual city-states, e.g. by Athens and Sparta, at different times to a position of predominance (primus inter pares) among other equal states, coupled with individual autonomy. The reversion of this position was claimed by Macedon (see Greece: Ancient History, and Delian League).