Cephale or Kephale () was a
deme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or (, plural: ''demoi'', δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, bu ...
of
ancient Attica
The regions of ancient Greece were sub-divisions of the Hellenic world as conceived by the ancient Greeks, shown by their presence in the works of ancient historians and geographers or in surviving legends and myths.
Conceptually, there is no cl ...
of the ''
phyle
''Phyle'' (, ; pl. ''phylai'', ; derived from Greek , ''phyesthai'' ) is an ancient Greek term for tribe or clan. Members of the same ''phyle'' were known as ''symphyletai'' () meaning 'fellow tribesmen'. During the late 6th century BC, Cleist ...
''
Acamantis
Acamantis () was one of the phyle, phylai (tribes) of classical Athens, created during the reforms of Cleisthenes. It was named after the legendary hero Acamas, son of Theseus, Acamas, and included the demes of
Holargos, Cholargos,
Eiresidai,
Herm ...
, that appears, from the order in which it occurs in the list of
Pausanias,
to have been situated south or east of
Hymettus
Hymettus (), also Hymettos (; ; ), is a mountain range in the Athens area of Attica, East Central Greece. It is also colloquially known as ''Trellós'' (crazy) or ''Trellóvouno'' (crazy mountain); the latter originates from the French "très ...
, perhaps in the neighbourhood of
Brauron
Brauron (; Ancient Greek: Βραυρών) was one of the twelve cities of ancient Attica, but never mentioned as a ''deme'', though it continued to exist down to the latest times. It was situated on or near the eastern coast of Attica, between St ...
, where
Ludwig Ross
Ludwig Ross (22 July 1806 – 6 August 1859) was a German Classical archaeology, classical archaeologist. He is chiefly remembered for the rediscovery and reconstruction of the Temple of Athena Nike in 1835–1836, and for his other excavati ...
found an inscription containing the name of this deme. Cephale possessed a temple of the
Dioscuri
Castor and Pollux (or Polydeuces) are twin half-brothers in Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri or Dioskouroi.
Their mother was Leda (mythology), Leda, but they had different fathers; Castor was the mortal ...
, who were here called the Great Gods.
[
The site of Cephale is located east of modern ]Keratea
Keratea () is a town in East Attica, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lavreotiki, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 129.864 km2. It is part of Athens metropolitan ...
.
References
Populated places in ancient Attica
Former populated places in Greece
Demoi
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