# Phi Beta Kappa Phi Beta Kappa first met in Williamsburg, Virginia, on December 5, 1776. The society identifies itself as the first collegiate organization with a Greek-letter name. Its early combination of a Greek motto, letters, initiation, badge, rules, and chapter replication supplied a model later adapted by other American [[wiki/Fraternities and Sororities|fraternities and sororities]]. Phi Beta Kappa today is an academic honor society grounded in liberal arts and sciences, so its function should be distinguished from that of a social fraternity. Its founding in the American Revolutionary era makes the Greek-letter tradition an American act of classical reception: inherited symbols were put to work in a new republic and then reproduced through chapters. This is a specific institutional route within [[wiki/Hellenic Cultural Inheritance|Hellenic cultural inheritance]]. ## Source - [History of Phi Beta Kappa](https://www.pbk.org/about/history), Phi Beta Kappa Society.