Asty (; ) was the physical space of a city or town in

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

, especially as opposed to the political concept of a ''

polis Polis (: poleis) means 'city' in Ancient Greek. The ancient word ''polis'' had socio-political connotations not possessed by modern usage. For example, Modern Greek πόλη (polē) is located within a (''khôra''), "country", which is a πατ ...

'', which encompassed the entire territory and citizen body of a city-state. In

Classical Athens The city of Athens (, ''Athênai'' ; Modern Greek: Αθήναι, ''Athine'' ) during the classical period of ancient Greece (480–323 BC) was the major urban centre of the notable '' polis'' ( city-state) of the same name, located in Attica, ...

, the ''asty'' was specifically the urban '' demoi'' of

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

, as opposed to the inland (''

mesogeia The Mesogeia or Mesogaia (, "Midlands") is a geographical region of Attica in Greece. History The term designates since antiquity the inland portion of the Attic peninsula. The term acquired a technical meaning with the reforms of Cleisthenes in ...

'') and coastal ('' paralia'') ''demoi'' that comprised each of the ten Attic tribes. Despite their name, most of the ''demoi'' of the ''asty'' were rural in character. Comprising about 42 of the 139 ''demoi'' of the Athenian state, they provided about 130 ''bouleutai'' in the 500-strong '' boule''. However, due to their proximity to the city of Athens, they were over-represented in the institutions of the

Athenian democracy Athenian democracy developed around the 6th century BC in the Ancient Greece, Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Classical Athens, Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, and focusing on supporting lib ...

; in surviving records, the names of the ''bouleutai'' from the ''asty'' are mentioned 1.5 to 2 times as often as those from the rest of Attica.

Asty Demoi

Asty demoi located within Athens inside the Themistoclean Wall: * Coele *

Collytus Collytus or Kollytos () was a deme of ancient Attica, located in the city of Athens. It was located within the walls of Themistocles, south of the Areopagus and southwest of Acropolis. It was famed due to its association with Plato, whose family w ...

* Cydathenaeum * Melite * Scambonidae Asty demoi located Within Athens outside the Themistoclean Wall: * Ankyle (Upper & Lower) * Agryle (Upper & Lower) * Alopece * Butadae * Cerameis * Ceriadae * Daedalidae * Diomea * Laciadae *

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

* Xypete Asty demoi located outside Athens: *

Cholargos Cholargos (, also: ''Holargos'') is a town and a suburb in the Athens urban area, Greece, located northeast of the Athens city proper and about away from Syntagma Square. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality ...

Colonae Kolonai (; ) was an ancient Greek city in the south-west of the Troad region of Anatolia. It has been located on a hill by the coast known as Beşiktepe ('cradle hill'), about equidistant between Larisa to the south and Alexandreia Troas to th ...

* Ikarion * Probalinthos * Rhamnous * Semachidae Unlocated asty demoi: * Cholleidai * Eitea * Hippotomadai * Otryne

References

{{reflist Ancient Attica Ancient Greek government