Diacria (Διακρία) is an ancient name for the highlands in the north-east of
Attica
Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...
in Greece, surrounding the
Plain of Marathon.
Attica may be divided into five natural parts:
* The
Eleusinian Plain
The Thriasio Plain ( el, Θριάσιο Πεδίο, translit=Thriasio Pedio) is a plain in western Attica, immediately to the west of Athens, in Greece. It is bounded by Mount Egaleo to the east, Mount Parnitha to the north, Mount Pateras to the ...
* The
Athenian Plain
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
* The
Paralia Paralia ( el, Παραλία, ''Paralía'') is a Greek term meaning "beach" or "coastline".
Towns
* Paralia, Achaea
* Paralia, Pieria
* Paralia Distomou
* Paralia Lygias
* Paralia Skotinas
* Paralia Avdira
* Paralia Panteleimonos
* Paralios Kaisar ...
or Sea-coasts
* The
Mesogaea
The Mesogeia or Mesogaia ( el, τα Μεσόγεια, η Μεσόγαια/Μεσογαία, "Midlands") is a geographical region of Attica in Greece.
History
The term designates since antiquity the inland portion of the Attic peninsula. The term a ...
or Midlands
* The Diacria or Highlands
North-east of the Athenian plain, between Parnes, Pentelicus, and the sea, is a mountain district, known by the name of Diacria (Διακρία) in antiquity. Its inhabitants, usually called Diacreis or Diacrii (Διακρεῖς, ''Diakreis'' or Διακρίοι, ''Diakrioi''), were sometimes also termed Hyperacrii (Ὑπερακρίοι. ''Hyperakrioi''), apparently from their dwelling on the other side of the mountain from the city. The only level part of this district is the small plain of Marathon, open to the sea.
When the astronomer
E. M. Antoniadi
Eugène Michel Antoniadi ( Greek: Ευγένιος Αντωνιάδης; 1 March 1870 – 10 February 1944) was a Greek-French astronomer.
Biography
Antoniadi was born in Istanbul (Constantinople) but spent most of his adult life in Fran ...
created his 1930 encyclopedic study of Mars, ''La Planète Mars'', he named a small greyish region in the planet's northern hemisphere after the classical Diacria. This was later adopted in the official name of the
Diacria quadrangle
The Diacria quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The quadrangle is located in the northwestern portion of Mars’ western hemisphere and ...
, one of the
cartographic quadrangles of the Martian atlas.
References
Geography of ancient Attica
{{AncientAttica-geo-stub