Deme

In Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...

, a deme (δῆμος) was a subdivision of Attica

Attica

Attica is a periphery in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Athens, Piraeus, East Attica and West Attica.-Overview:...

, the region of Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....

 surrounding Athens

Classical Athens

The city of Athens during classical antiquity was a notable polis of Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Hippias...

. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, but did not acquire particular significance until the reforms of Cleisthenes

Cleisthenes

Cleisthenes was a noble Athenian of the Alcmaeonid family. He is credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508 BC or 507 BC...

 in 508 BC. In those reforms, enrollment in the citizen-lists of a deme became the requirement for citizenship; prior to that time, citizenship had been based on membership in a phratry

Phratry

A phratry ατρία, English translation: "brotherhood", "kinfolk", derived from φρατήρ meaning "brother") was an anthropological term for a kinship division consisting of two or more distinct clans which are considered a single unit, but which retain separate identities within the phratry.In...

, or family group. At this same time, demes were established in the city of Athens itself, where they had not previously existed; in all, at the end of Cleisthenes' reforms, Attica was divided into 139 demes. The establishment of demes as the fundamental units of the state weakened the geneed

Genos

Genos was the ancient Greek term for small kinship groups which identified themselves as a unit, referred to by a single name. Most gene seem to have been composed of noble families—Herodotus uses the term to denote noble families—and much of early Greek politics seems to have...

 one trittys

Trittys

Trittyes were population divisions in ancient Attica, established by the reforms of Cleisthenes in 508 BC. The name means "thirtieth," and there were in fact thirty trittyes in Attica. Each tribe, or phyle of Athens was composed of three trittyes, one from the coast, one from the city, and one...

 from each of three regions, the city, the coast, and the inland area.

Erechtheïs (Ερεχθηίς)

Upper Agryle

Lower Agryle

Anagyrous

Anagyrous

Anagyrous was one of the deme in ancient Athens near modern day Vari. It belonged in the tribe Erechtheis. A sanctuary of the mother of the gods was situated here according to Pausanias.-External links:*...

Euonymon

Euonymon

Euonymon was one of the deme in ancient Athens near modern day Argyroupolis and Ellinikon. It belonged in the tribe Erechtheis. Euonymon's cemetery was discovered in 2003.-External links:* *...

Themakos

Kedoi

Kephisia

Upper Lamptrai

Lower Lamptrai

Pambotadai

Upper Pergase

Lower Pergase

Phegous

Sybridai

Aegeïs (Αιγηίς)

Upper Ankyle

Lower Ankyle

Araphen

Halai Araphenides

Bate

Gargettos

Diomeia

Hestiaia

Erikeia

Erchia

Ikarion

Ionidai

Kollytos

Kolonos

Colonus

In classical Greece Hippeios Colonus was a deme about 1 km to the northwest of Athens, near Plato's Academy. There is also the "Agoraios Kolonos" , a hillock by the Athens Agora on which the temple of Hephaestus still stands.Hippeios Colonus held a temple of Poseidon and a sacred grove to the...

Kydantidai

Myrrhinoutta

Otryne

Plotheia

Teithras

Phegaia

Philaidai

Pandionis (Πανδιονίς)

Angele

Konthyle

Kydathenaion

Kytheros

Myrrhinous

Oa

Prasiai

Probalinthos

Upper Paiania

Lower Paiania

Steiria

Leontis (Λεοντίς)

Aithalidai

Halimous

Deiradiotai

Hecale

Hecale

In Greek mythology, Hecale was an old woman who offered succor to Theseus on his way to capture the Marathonian Bull.On the way to Marathon to capture the Bull, Theseus sought shelter from a storm in a shack owned by an ancient lady named Hecale. She swore to make a sacrifice to Zeus if Theseus was...

Eupyridai

Kettos

Kolonai

Kropidai

Leukonion

Oion Kerameikon

Paionidai

Pelekes

Upper Potamos

Lower Potamos

Potamioi-Deiradiotai

Skambonidai

Sounion

Hybadai

Phrearrhioi

Cholleidai

Akamantis (Ακαμαντίς)

Hagnous

Eiresidai

Eitea

Hermos

Iphistiadai

Thorikos

Kerameis

Kephale

Kikynna

Kyrteidai

Poros

Prospalta

Sphettos

Cholargos

Cholargos

Cholargos Latin/Older form: Cholargus is a suburb of Athens, Greece, located northeast of the city center and about 6 kilometers away from Syntagma square...

Oeneïs (Οινηίς)

Acharnae

Acharnae

Acharnae was the largest deme of ancient Attica; it was located in the northwest part of the Attic plain, south of Mt. Parnes in the general vicinity of the modern suburbs of Acharnes and Ano Liosia, about 10 km due north of Athens. The Acharnians chiefly grew cereals, grapes, and olives,...

Boutadai

Epikephisia

Thria

Hippotomadai

Kothokidai

Lakiadai

Lousia

Oe

Perithoidai

Ptelea

Tyrmeidai

Phyle

Kekropis (Κεκροπίς)

Athmonon

Aixone

Halai Aixonides

Daidalidai

Epieikidai

Melite

Xypete

Pithos

Sypalettos

Trinemeia

Phlya

Hippothontis (Ιπποθοντίς)

Azenia

Hamaxanteia

Anakaia

Auridai

Acherdous

Dekeleia

Elaious

Elaious

Elaious was an ancient Greek city located in Thrace , located in the region of the Thracian Chersonesos....

Eleusis

Eroiadai

Thymaitadai

Keiriadai

Koile

Kopros

Korydallos

Korydallos

Korydallos is a municipality which belongs to Piraeus Prefecture, Greece in the western suburbs of Athens. It is the home of the Korydallos prisons. It sits on a mountain in the west named Aegaleo. It is located W of Athens, N of Piraeus and S of GR-8/E55 and Athinon Avenue.Farming used to...

Oinoe (of the west)

Oion Dekeleikon

Peiraieus

Aiantis (Αιαντίς)

Aphidna

Marathon

Marathon, Greece

Marathon is an ancient Greek city-state, a contemporary town in Greece, the site of the battle of Marathon in 490 BC, in which the heavily outnumbered Athenian army defeated the Persians. The tumulus or burial mound Marathon (Demotic Greek: Μαραθώνας, Marathónas; Attic/ Katharevousa: , ) is an...

Oinoe (of the east)

Rhamnous

Rhamnous

The site of Rhamnous , the remote northernmost deme of Attica, lies 39km NE of Athens and 12.4km NNE of Marathon, Greece overlooking the Euboean Strait. Rhamnous was strategically significant enough to be fortified and receive an Athenian garrison of ephebes...

Trikorynthos

Phaleron

Antiochis (Αντιοχίς)

Aigilia

Alopeke

Amphitrope

Anaphlystos

Atene

Besa

Eitea

Eroidai

Ergadeis

Thorai

Kolonai

Krioa

Leukopyra

Pallene

Semachidai

Phyrrhinesioi

Later usage

The term deme (dēmos) survived into the Hellenistic and Roman eras. By the time of the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by Emperors in direct and de jure succession to the ancient Roman Emperors...

, the term was used to refer to one of the four chariot racing

Chariot racing

Chariot racing was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine sports. Chariot racing was often dangerous to both driver and horse—they frequently suffered serious injury and even death—but generated strong spectator enthusiasm...

 factions, the Reds, the Blues, the Greens and the Whites.

In modern Greece, the term dēmos is used to denote the municipalities.