Diacria () is an ancient name for the highlands in the north-east 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 ...

in Greece, surrounding the Plain of Marathon. Attica may be divided into five natural parts: * The

Eleusinian Plain The Thriasio Plain () is a plain in western Attica within Athens metropolitan area in Greece. It is bounded by Mount Egaleo to the east, Mount Parnitha to the north, Mount Pateras to the west, and the Bay of Elefsina to the south. History The ...

* The

Athenian Plain Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

* The Paralia or Sea-coasts * The

Mesogaea 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 , ...

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. He is known for creating the Antoniadi scale as well as for his observations of the planets, and was ...

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 cov ...

, one of the cartographic quadrangles of the Martian atlas.

References

Geography of ancient Attica {{AncientAttica-geo-stub