HANSEN, MOGENS HERMAN, Political Activity and the Organization of Attica in the Fourth 
Century B.C. , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 24:3 (1983:Autumn) p.227 

Political Activity and the Organization of 
Attica in the Fourth Century B.C. 

Mogens Herman Hansen 

I T IS GENERALLY BELIEVED that the political organization of Attica 
introduced by Kleisthenes in the years after 50817 was maintained 
unchanged for two hundred years. Most historians hold, with 

Traill's fundamental study, 1 that the creation and distribution of 139 
(?) constitutional demes over thirty trittyes and ten phylai was upheld 
from ca 500 to 307/6 B.C. and that the number of seats in the boule 
assigned to each deme goes back to Kleisthenes, although the at­
tested quotas are all later than the restoration of the democracy in 
403/2.2 

An essential aspect of Kleisthenes' reforms was to combine mem­
bership in a de me with residence in the deme (Arist. Ath.Pol. 21.4)~ 
but as deme membership was made hereditary, all scholars acknowl­
edge that the original territorial organization of the citizen body must 
have become increasingly artificial in the course of the classical pe­
riod. So the student of fourth-century Athenian institutions is faced 
with two basic questions: (1) to what degree was the original settle­
ment pattern preserved, i.e. how many fourth-century citizens hap­
pened to reside in the de me to which they belonged? (2) to what 
degree was the political organization preserved, i.e. was the distribu­
tion of politically active citizens over the three Attic districts (Asty, 
Paralia, Mesogaios) the same in the fourth century as when Kleisthe­
nes created the districts and fixed the bouleutic quotas for all the 
demes? I shall begin with the second question. 

For the relation between deme membership and political activity 
we have three types of evidence: (a) inscriptions recording bouleutai 
and so the bouleutic quotas, i.e. the number of seats in the boule as­
signed to each deme (and accordingly to each of the thirty trittyes and 

11. S. TRAILL, The Political Organization of Aflica (Hesperia Suppl. 14 [1975], here­
after 'Traill'). In this article I accept Traill's conclusions as to the location of demes and 
their distribution over rrittyes and tribes. 

2 Bouleutic quotas go back to Kleisthenes, cf Traill 103. No attested bouleutic quotas 
earlier than the fourth century, c.l Athenian Agora XV 2-56. We have only one prytany 
dedication from the fifth century, which Traill believes to be incomplete (Agora XV 1). 
On this inscription and IG f3 1040 see infra n.lO. 

227 



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228 POLITICAL ACTIVITY AND ATTICA 

three districts); (b) prosopographical information in all sources about 
citizens acting as rhetores and strategoi; (c) dicastic pinakia recording 
the names and demotics of citizens who served as jurors. As the bou­
leu tic quotas have been discussed frequently, I focus here on the 
other two types of evidence and their relation to the bouleutic quotas. 

I have previously published an inventory of 368 citizens attested as 
proposers, speakers, prosecutors, ambassadors, and generals in the 
period 403-322.3 The demotic is known (or conjectured) for 211 of 
these; to this figure we can add 29 proposers and ambassadors for 
whom fragmentary inscriptions record the demotic but not the name.4 

A total of 240 citizens is too small a sample for a study of single 
demes,5 but quite sufficient to investigate the distribution of rhetores 
and strategoi6 over the three districts: 

District Total Percentage 
Asty 63 26% 
Paralia 86 36% 
Mesogaios 91 38% 

We have from fourth-century Athens 190 bronze allotment plates.7 

The pinakia were used for two different purposes: the daily sortition 

3 " Rhetores and Strategoi in Fourth-Century Athens," GRBS 24 (1983) 151-80. 
4 JG If2 34.36-37 (Alopekethen, Phrearrios); 140.7 (Eleusinios); 157.5 (Porios); 

175.4 (Acharneus); 204.84 (Lamptreus); 205.9, cf SEG XIV 51 (Steirieus); 207.27 (Eu­
onymeus, Acharneus); 220.4-5 (Rhamnousios); 223B.1O (Pambotades); 229.7 (Phre­
arrios); 244.1 (Aphidnaios); 253.2 (Sphettios); 263.5 (ek Kedon); 276.3 (Potamios); 
336.6 (Lakiades); 343.3 (Anagyrasios); 358.8 (307/6?) (Kydathenaieus); 361.7 (Alope­
kethen); 367.9 (Meliteus); 403.5 (Lakiades); 410.1-2, c.l SEG XXII 94 (Skamboni­
des); 800, c.l SEG XXI 289 (Sybarides or Sypalletios); 1128.40 (Phlyeus); 3207.4 
(Myrrhinousios); Hesperia 3 (1934) 3-4 no. 5 (Thriasios); 8 (1939) 26-27 no. 6 (Ana­
gyrasios); 9 (940) 327-28 no. 36 (Paianieus). Some of these may be identical with 
some of the persons for whom we know the full name. The spokesman of JG IF 244.1, 
for example, may be either Kephisophon Kephalionos or Demetrios Euktemonos. 

5 This is apparent from a survey of attested rhetores and strategoi from some of the 
major demes (with five or more bouleutai; Traill 67): Acharnai 13, Aphidna 9, Lamp­
trai (both) 7, Paiania (both) 14, Kydathenaion 5, Eleusis 6, Alopeke 10, Euonymon 5, 
Anaphlystos 4, Marathon 2, Peiraieus 2, Phrearrioi 2, Phaleron 2, Kephale 2, Aixone 
5, Rhamnous 7, Melite 1, Phlya 2, Erchia 6, Xypete 0, Thria 2, Kephisia 5, Pallene 6, 
Kerameis 4, Anagyrous 6, Athmonon 0, Myrrhinous 4, Halai (both) 1, Oe 3, Aigilia 0, 
Sphettos 10, Thorikos 3, Ikarion 1, Hagnous 2, Probalinthos 2, Prospalta 0, Agryle 
(both) O. 

6 If we split up rhetores and strategoi and record the various activities separately, we get 
the following percentages. Rhetores in the ecclesia and in the boule <total 132): Asty 23%, 
Paralia 34%, Mesogaios 43%. Prosecutors, defendants, and synegoroi in political public 
actions (44): Asty 25%, Paralia 43%, Mesogaios 32%. Ambassadors (66): Asty 27%, 
Paralia 41%, Mesogaios 32%. Strategoi (53): Asty 23%, Paralia 47%, Mesogaios 30%. 

7 See the fundamental study by J. H. Kroll, Athenian Bronze Allotment Plates (Cam­
bridge [Mass.] 1972), with the seven more he adds in an article forthcoming in GRBM 
10. 



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MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN 229 

of jurors and the annual sortition of magistrates. Bronze pinakia were 
used for the sortition of jurors in the second quarter of the fourth 
century, and for sortition of magistrates in the second and third 
quarters. I leave out of account the pinakia used exclusively for the 
sortition of magistrates and focus on those dicastic pinakia which still 
attest the deme membership of the jurors: for 86 dikastai, recorded 
on 52 different pinakia, the demotic can be read or restored, reveal­
ing the following distribution over the three districts:8 

District Total Percentage 
Asty 20 23% 
Paralia 36 42% 
Mesogaios 30 35% 

For a proper evaluation of the percentages recorded in these two 
tables it is important to keep in mind that the three districts were 
unequal in size and population, as is demonstrated by the bouleutic 
quotas. If we add up the quotas for the various demes as attested in 
the fourth century and later, the figures are: Asty 130, Paralia 196, 
Mesogaios 174 (c! Traill 71). A comparison of all three types of 
source gives the following percentages for the three districts: 

Rhetores and 
District Bouleutai Strategoi Dikastai 
As~ 26% 26% 23% 
Paralia 39% 36% 42% 
Mesogaios 35% 38% 35% 

It is significant that the three different types of evidence give al­
most the same percentages. The correspondence among the figures 
becomes even more remarkable when we realize that the bouleutic 
quotas, as a source, differ from the other two in important respects. 
The bouleutic quotas, we are told, were fixed by Kleisthenes and do 
not necessarily reflect the actual political participation in the age of 
Demosthenes. And in fact quite a number of councillors did not 
attend the meetings (Dem. 22.36). It is a fair guess that many of 
those absent were councillors belonging to the Paralia or the Meso­
gaios and still living in their demes. Hence the bouleutic quotas were, 
in away, artificial, and the bouleutai attending the meetings may have 

8 The dicastic pinakia are those of Classes I-II (I9 pinakia with 46 uses as dicastic 
pinakia), IV (I7 pinakia with 44 uses), and V (36 pinakia with 71 uses). The sum is 72 
pinakia with 161 uses. Of the seven new pinakia, 3 are dicastic with 11 uses. The sum 
of uses is not beyond doubt since some pinakia of Classes IV and V were reused as 
Class VI. 



HANSEN, MOGENS HERMAN, Political Activity and the Organization of Attica in the Fourth 
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230 POLITICAL ACTIVITY AND ATTICA 

betrayed a very different representation from the three districts. The 
two other types of source are of a different kind. Both the rhetores 
and strategoi and the dicasts were volunteers, and the percentages 
listed above must reflect the actual political participation of citizens 
from the three districts (the percentages of course represent deme 
membership and give no information about residence). 

We may assume that in the fourth century the distribution of ac­
tive bouleutai over the three districts was similar to the distribution of 
rhetores and strategoi and of dicasts.9 Accordingly, as the percentages 
suggest, the actual distribution of those bouleutai who attended a ses­
sion was probably not very different from the composition of the 
entire boule and the bouleutic quotas that were allegedly set by Kleis­
thenes. 

Thus, comparison of the bouleutic quotas with the two other types 
of source indicates that Kleisthenes' political reform was so successful 
that it insured, for the next 200 years, the same balance among 
citizens belonging to the three districts. There is an alternative, how­
ever: we have no unquestionably attested bouleutic quotas earlier 

9 In my inventory of rhetores and strategoi I recorded 29 rhetores (with known de­
motic) either as addressing the boule or as proposers of decrees in the boule. To this 
figure I can add four men known only by the demotic of the proposer: IG 112 157.5 
(Porios), 2238.l 0 (Pambotades), 361. 7 (Alopekethen), 3207.4 (Myrrhinousios). Fur­
thermore, proposers of probouleumatic decrees were probably all bouleutai and so to be 
registered as rhetores active in the boule. The inventory does not distinguish between 
probouleumatic and non-probouleumatic decrees; accordingly proposers of probouleu­
matic decrees whose demotic is known may be listed here (for a full list of the decrees 
see P. J. Rhodes, The Athenian Boule [Oxford 1972] 247-50): Archedemos Archiou 
Paionides (IG 112 208); Aristophon Aristophanous Azenieus 021, 130); Astyphilos 
Halaieus (42); Demetrios Euktemonos Aphidnaios (Sylf.3 287); Diophantos Thrasy­
medous Sphettios (IG 112 106); Diophantos Phrasikleidou Myrrhinousios (243); Eu­
boulides Antiphilou Halimousios (218); Gnathios Probalisios 06, EOOg" rfi f30VA:il); 
Gnathon Lakiades (Hesperia 26 [1957] 207 no. 53); Hegesandros Hegesiou Sounieus 
(IG 112 123); Hierokleides Timostratou Alopekethen (206); Hieronymos Oikophelous 
Rhamnousios (415); Hippochares Alopekethen (330); Kallikrates Charopidou Lamp­
treus (215); Kallistratos Kallikratous Aphidnaios (07); Kephisodotos ek Kerameon 
(Hesperia 8 [I939] 5ff no. 3); Kephisophon Paianieus (IG IJ2 0; Lykourgos Lykophro­
nos Boutades (328); Melanopos Lachetos Aixoneus (145); Menites Menonos Kydathe­
naieus (ArchEph 1971, 137ft); Nothippos Lysiou Diomeieus (IG IJ2 349); Pandios 
Sokleous ex Oiou (?) (03); Philotades Philostratou Palleneus (36); Polyeuktos Ky­
dantides (410); Polyeuktos Sostratou Sphettios (28); Telemachos Theangelou Achar­
neus (SEG XVI 52); ... Aristyllou Keiriades (IG 112 205); ... Phrearrios (229); ... 
Lakiades (403). Of these 29 rhetores one is also known as the proposer of a decree of 
the boule (Diophantos Phrasikleidou), and we do not know whether Pandios belonged 
to Oion Kerameikon or Dekeleikon. Hence we have 27 names and demotics. All 60 
attested rhetores in the boule grouped according to the three districts show: Asty 19 
(32%), Paralia 16 (27%), Mesogaios (41%). These figures suggest a good distribution 
over the districts but indicate, if they are reliable, an underrepresentation of the 
Paralia. 



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MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN 231 

than 40312,10 and the ascription of the fourth-century quotas to Kleis­
thenes rests on an argument from silence. The correspondence be­
tween the bouleutic quotas and actual political participation in the 
fourth century may rather support the opposite view: that the bouleu­
tic quotas were adjusted, say in 40312, to fit the existing citizen pop­
ulation which differed both in size and in geographical distribution 
from that of the age of Kleisthenes. 

A study of the connection between the bouleutic quotas and the 
number of citizens in fourth-century Athens may throw more light 
on this problem. The number of citizens eligible for the boule was 
probably so small that it was only just possible to run the council 
constitutionally.ll Accordingly citizens were allowed, exceptionally, to 
serve in the boule twice in their lifetime (Arist. Ath.Pol. 62.3), but 
the evidence we have indicates that only a small fraction did SO.12 

Thus almost all citizens over thirty years of age served one year in 
the boule,13 and a fraction of them two years. Now if the number of 

10 Two inscriptions may provide information on quotas in the fifth century. (I) Agora 
XV 1 is a dedication set up by the prytaneis of Erechtheis in 40817. The number of 
names preserved differs in most cases from the known deme quotas: only Kedoi (2) 
and Upper Agryle (I) agree with the fourth-century quotas. According to the prevailing 
view, however, no more than 37 names (from the 14 demes) were inscribed on the 
stone, which thus records only some prytaneis and therefore gives no information about 
quotas. (2) K. J. Davies, LMC 4 (979) 151-55, has argued that IG {3 1040 may be a 
fragment of a list of all 500 bouleutai, serving ca 420 or earlier. Moreover, he restores 
the fragment to give four bouleutai to Gargettos (Aigeis) and 9 (or 9+?) to (?) Phre­
arrhioi (Leontis). If Davies is right in all his assumptions, this is evidence that the 
quota of Gargettos was the same in the fifth century, and possibly also that of Phre­
arrhioi. In my opinion, however, it is an overstatement that the inscription as restored 
"strongly suggests that the de me-quotas in the Council did indeed remain unchanged 
from the fifth century into the fourth" (55). If we take Agora XV 1 to give the bou­
leu tic quotas of the demes recorded in the fragment, two are the same (Kedoi and 
Upper Agryle) but the others are different. One or perhaps two known quotas is too 
small a basis for a general conclusion, especially when both figures require considerable 
restoration in the fragment. 

11 E. Ruschenbusch, "Die soziale Zusammensetzung des Rates der 500 in Athen im 
4. Jh.," ZPE 35 (I979) 177-80; "Epheben, Bouleuten und die Biirgerzahl von Athen 
urn 330 v. Chr.," ZPE 41 (981) 103-05; "Noch einmal die Biirgerzahl Athens urn 
330 v. Chr.," ZPE 44 (981) 110-12. For the replies of P. J. Rhodes cl n.12 infra. 

12 See P. J. Rhodes, A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia (Oxford 
1981) 531, 696, 769; "Ephebi, Bouleutae and the Population of Athens," ZPE 38 
(I980) 193 with n.9. 

l;l I make the following assumptions: (a) 21,000 citizens; (b) life expectancy at birth 
of 20-30 years; (c) annual grown rate of 0-1 %. In a population of this type the number 
of thirty-year-old males constitutes 2.5-2.9% of all males over eighteen: cl A. 1. Coale 
and P. Demeny, Regional Model Life Tables and Stable Populations (Princeton 1966), 
Model West, Mortality levels 2-6, Males. Accordingly the number of male citizens 
who each year turn thirty in the later fourth century will be 525-610. In order to run 
the boule constitutionally, 500 new candidates are needed each year if all serve once, 
250 if all serve twice. As stated supra, most probablY served only once, and many not 



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232 POLITICAL ACTIVITY AND ATTICA 

citizens eligible for the boule was only slightly larger than the mini­
mum number required to run it, then it follows that the number of 
citizens in any of the 139 demes was only just sufficient to fill the 
number of seats in the boule assigned to the deme. For a consider­
able surplus of citizens in one de me would mean that another was 
underpopulated and could not provide the prescribed number. The 
epigraphical evidence shows, however, that virtually all the demes did 
furnish the required number of bouleutai each year.14 It follows that 
in almost all the demes the number of eligible demotai must have 
closely matched the bouleutic quotas.15 This perfect correspondence 
between population and representation in the boule in the fourth 
century would be a miraculous coincidence if the bouleutic quotas 
had been fixed by Kleisthenes in the late sixth century, and so I 
conclude that the quotas were probably revised and that those known 
from fourth-century inscriptions were fixed in connection with the 
restoration of the democracy in 403/2. It is worth noting that the only 
prytany inscription extant from the fifth century has different quotas 
for the demes of Erechtheis, and the figures recorded for the single 
demes may be the quotas, although probably only two-thirds of the 
fifty prytaneis were inscribed on the stone. But again there is an 
alternative: the view that the adult male citizens in the fourth century 
numbered 21,000 is not undisputed,16 and so it is still possible to 
ascribe the known bouleutic quotas to Kleisthenes if we presuppose a 
male citzen body (aged eighteen and over) of 31,000 or even more, 
eligible as bouleutai when they had passed the age of thirty P 

immediately upon turning thirty but later in life. Given a considerable mortality of men 
of all ages, a yearly 'class' of 525-610 new thirty-year-old citizens must be very close to 
the minimum required. 

14 See Traill's Tables of Representation. 
15 The only deme whose size is known is Halimous with three seats in the boule 

(Agora XV 13.10-16, 42.232-35, 43.82:88). In 346/5 the number of demotai was 80+, 
and probably not more than 100 (Oem. 57.10, 15). Consequently, Halimous could fill 
its three seats only if all demotai served once (of 100, three will be aged 30) or if 2/3 
served once and 1/3 twice (of 80, two will be aged 30). 

16 This figure is based on Ath. 272c (Ktesikles FGrHist 245Ft) and Plut. Phoc. 28.7 
supplemented with Diod. 18.18.4-5 (where BWI-Lvpiwv has been emended to I-Lvpiwv). 
The number 31,000 is based on the MS. reading of Diodoros. See infra n.17. 

17 Scholars who follow Gomme in assuming a citizen population of 31,000, of whom 
co 14,500 belonged to the 'hoplite class', regularly believe that the boule was domi­
nated by citizens of 'hoplite status': A. W. Gomme, The Population of Athens in the Fifth 
and Fourth Centuries B.e. (Oxford 1933) 26; J. A. O. Larsen, Representative Government 
in Greek and Roman History (Berkeley/Los Angeles 1966) 10-11; Rhodes (supra n.9) 
4-6. But this position is equally difficult to combine with the view that the known 
bouleutic quotas were fixed by Kleisthenes. If we assume that the 'hoplite class' filled, 
say, 3/4 of the seats in the boule, then the number of candidates required each year is 



HANSEN, MOGENS HERMAN, Political Activity and the Organization of Attica in the Fourth 
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MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN 233 

Apart from the significant correspondence between the bouleutic 
quotas and political activity, the percentages tabulated above reveal 
another surprising phenomenon: a significant underrepresentation of 
citizens from the Asty. If we follow the common view that most of the 
politically active citizens lived near the Agora and the Pnyx and that 
most citizens still lived in their demes, then more than half, not just a 
quarter, of the politically active would be members of city demes. This 
leads us from the question of deme membership to that of deme 
residence. Why do only about one fourth of all active citizens belong 
to the city demes? The growth of political activity in the course of the 
classical period must have led to an increasing overrepresentation in 
the political assemblies of citizens from the Asty by comparison with 
the other two districts. In the age of Kleisthenes, when the people and 
the council met only infrequently, it may have been possible even for 
citizens of the more remote demes to fulfil their civic duties as coun­
cillors and members of the ecclesia. In the later fourth century, how­
ever, when the ecclesia met forty times in a year, the boule ca 250, 
and the dicasteria 150-200, it was simply impossible for an Athenian 
who lived in the Paralia or the Mesogaios to attend more than a few of 
all the political meetings. No deme in the Paralia and the Mesogaios is 
closer to the Agora and the Pnyx than ca 12 km., a walk of at least 
two hours. Consequently, if we assume that most citizens in the age 
of Demosthenes still lived in their demes, the increasing political 
activity would necessarily have led to a massive overrepresentation of 
Athenians belonging to the city demes and to the destruction of the 
balance in political representation among the three districts. Now the 
sources testify to a small representation of citizens enrolled in the city 
demes, and so we must infer (a) that many citizens in the course of 
the classical period had moved from the countryside to Athens, and 
(b) that the citizens still living in their ancestral demes came to the 
city more often than we are used to believe and took an active part in 
the running of the democratic institutions, both the ecclesia, the bou­
Ie, and the dicasteria. 

375, whereas the number of thirty-year-olds of hoplite status is ca 360-420 (supra 
n.13). Again, if most bouleutai served only once, there must have been in almost all 
the demes an unbelievable correspondence between the quotas fixed by Kleisthenes 
and the number of eligible demotai of hoplite status in the fourth century. The view 
that Kleisthenes introduced the known bouleutic quotas can, in my opinion, be upheld 
only if we assume (a) that the adult male citizens numbered 31,000 and (b) that all 
served on the boule irrespective of their social status. On this view some demes may 
have been 'overpopulated' and others 'underpopulated' but still large enough to fill 
their quotas. 



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234 POLITICAL ACTIVITY AND ATTICA 

Especially for the rhetores and strategoi the constant involvement in 
politics must have necessitated permanent or at least long-term resi­
dence in the urban district from Athens down to the Peiraieus, or in 
the rural district belonging to the Asty. This a priori assumption 
receives some support from information about individual political 
leaders: Demosthenes of Paiania had a house in Peiraieus and one in 
Athens (Din. 1.69, Aeschin. 3.209); Phokion of Potamos (?) a house 
in Melite (Plut. Phoc. 18.8); Timotheos of Anaphlystos a house in 
Peiraieus (Dem. 49.22, cf APF 510); and Timarchos of Sphettos a 
house behind the Akropolis (Aeschin. 1.97). Moreover, there is 
much less evidence to the contrary-that citizens recorded as politi­
cally active lived far from Athens, in the Paralia or the Mesogaios.18 

The dicastic pinakia point to the same conclusion: most of those for 
which the provenience is attested come from graves in the immediate 
environs of the city, while only a few have been found in the remote 
demes. Moreover, the last owner of a pinakion, buried e.g. in Peirai­
eus, is sometimes a demesman from the Paralia or the Mesogaios.19 

Concerning rhetores and strategoi and jurors, however, the prosopo­
graphical evidence is too scarce to be of much value for investigating 
the relation between political activity, de me membership, and deme 
residence. Far more important are hundreds of tombstones, which 
however do not testify to political activity but only to the relation 
between deme membership and residence for the citizen population 
as a whole. Gomme's is the only published discussion of this type of 
evidence, based on the inscriptions in· IG II; in an unpublished paper, 
Aksel Damsgaard-Madsen has brought the evidence up to date by 
including the new material in IG IJ2 and SEG I-XXV.2o Gomme 
examined 404 citizens of the fourth and third centuries for whom the 
tombstone and its provenience are known; Damsgaard-Madsen has 
added 412 more, and his study corroborates the inference drawn by 
Gomme: tombstones found in the Mesogaios or the Paralia com­
memorate almost invariably citizens buried in their ancestral deme, 
whereas tombstones found in or near Athens record more citizens 

18 E.g. Astyphilos Philagrou Halaieus, a proposer of two decrees of the people but 
also active in his de me (JG IJ2 1175). There are surprisingly few citizens active both in 
their deme and in the city as rhetores or strategoi. Apart from Astyphilos I can cite only 
Euboulides Antiphilou Halimousios (Oem. 57.8) and Moirokles Euthydemou (?) Eleu­
sinios (Hesperia 8 (1939) 180). This problem will be dealt with by David Whitehead in 
a forthcoming publication; I should like to thank him for letting me see his typescript. 

19 Cf Kroll (supra n.7) 9 with n.2, 83 with n.21. 
20 Gomme (supra n.l7) 44-45; A. Damsgaard-Madsen, Befokningbevaegelser pa Attika 

i klassisk Tid belyst ud fra person-demenavnene pa attiske gravsten fra 4 & 3 arhundrede, 
unpublished paper (Arhus 1980). 



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MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN 235 

belonging to the Paralia and the Mesogaios than to the Asty itself. 
Thus Gomme's and Damsgaard-Madsen's figures illustrate a migra­
tion from the country to the town. A quantification is impossible 
today, but may perhaps be attempted when the numerous tomb­
stones found all over Attica in the last decades and stored in the 
museums have been made accessible by publication. A tombstone 
(with known provenience) is preserved for only a dozen or so of the 
politically active citizens, but again we have some evidence of rhetores 
andstrategoi from coastal or inland demes buried in or near Athens,21 
much less evidence of political leaders buried in their ancestral coastal 
or inland deme,22 and no evidence of politically active citzens from 
the Asty buried outside the Athens-Peiraieus area. 

Another important aspect is the daily mobility of citizens of an 
ancient polis. In our age of rapid transportation we tend to forget that 
people in preindustrial societies commonly walked long distances al­
most daily. As late as ca 1900, many workers were accustomed to 
walk as much as fifteen km. to their place of work, and the same 
distance back home after a working day of ten hours. Likewise in 
many agricultural societies a peasant had to walk similar distances 
between dwelling and field, unless in summer he spent the night in a 
shed near the field. On this analogy it is easy to believe that Athenian 
citizens might willingly walk between two and three hours twice a day 
in order to attend an important political meeting, which normally 
lasted only a few hours. Moreover, a citizen might combine participa­
tion in politics with other activities. Athens was not only the political 
but also the religious and economic centre of the polis. The major 
festivals must have attracted citizens from all over Attica, and in the 
Agora the Athenians bought not only manufactured goods but also 
their daily provision. The diet was based on barley supplemented by 
wheat; but in the fourth century local production of grain constituted 

21 Astyphilos Halaieus (JG 1f2 5497 and 5498, found in the 'Theseion'); Epikrates 
Kephisieus (JG IF 6444, found in the Kerameikos); Kallippos Philonos Aixoneus (JG 
1I 2 5432 and 5433, found in Peiraieus); Kephisophon Paianieus (JG IF 7062, found in 
the 'Theseion'); Melantes Potamios (JG IF 7268, found in Athens); Moirokles Kal­
lippou Eleusinios (JG IF 6043, found near the Dipylon; the Moirokles referred to by 
Demosthenes [PA 10400] should perhaps be identified with the M. Kallippou Eleu­
sinios recorded on this tombstone rather than with M. Euthydemous Eleusinios [PA 
10401, Hesperia 8 (939) 180] as I suggested in my inventory); Philon Kallippou Aix­
oneus (JG IJ2 5450, found near Peiraieus). In some cases a tombstone records the 
name of an ascendant or descendant of a rhetor or strategos, e.g. Proxenos Harmodiou 
Aphidnaios, the grandfather of Proxenos PA 12270 (JG If2 5765, found near the 
Akropolis); the son of Rhinon Charkleos Paianieus (?) (Agora XVII 968). 

22 Alkimachos Kephisiou Angelethen (JG lIZ 5228, found in AngeJe, near Marko­
pulon); Kleoboulos Glaukou Acharneus (SEG XVI 193, found in AcharnaD. 



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236 POLITICAL ACTIVITY AND ATTICA 

only a fraction of the grain consumed by the population of Attica. 
Hence most grain was imported and sold to citizens, metics, and 
slaves coming from all over Attica. Again quantification is impossible, 
but the importing of grain to Athens is incompatible with the view 
that the prevailing economic pattern was a kind of subsistence farm­
ing. Now meetings of the ecclesia were often held before or after a 
major festival, and a citizen coming from a remote de me may have 
combined political participation with attending the festival and trading 
in the market. 

The question of daily mobility in Greek society needs a proper 
investigation, but on the basis of these rudimentary observations I 
may offer a sketch of the possible participation in political life by 
citizens residing in their ancestral demes. The Asty covers most of 
the plain between Aigaleos to the northwest and Hymettos to the 
southeast of Athens. The distance to the Agora or Pnyx from any 
locality within the Asty district is never more than ca eight km. If we 
draw a circle with the centre in the Pnyx and a radius of 12 km., 
some of the populous demes in the Mesogaios and Aixone in the 
Paralia fall within it.23 If we extend the radius to 18 km., we include 
most of the demes of the Paralia to the northwest of Aigaleos and to 
the south of Hymettos and also the Mesogaios demes south and west 
of Pentelikon.24 In the area delimited by the smaller circle one might 
walk to the Pnyx in at most two to three hours~ from the demes 
within the 18 km. radius, the walk will take no more than 3-4 hours, 
depending on the routes followed. A tabulation of the bouleutic 
quotas with the attested rhetores and strategoi whose demes fall within 
these limits will give a rough idea of the proportion of citizens who 
could in one day walk to Athens, attend a meeting, and return home: 

Bouleutic Rhetores and 
Region Quotas Strategoi 
Asty 130 26% 62 26% 
12 km. 186 37% 89 38% 
18 km. 308 62% 164 70% 

Thus about two thirds of all politically active citizens lived either in 
Athens or no more than four hours' walk distant. But a third or so of 

23 The Mesogaios demes are Acharnai, Athmonon, Eupyridai, Kropidai, Pallene, 
Phlya, and Sypalettos. 

24 The Paralia demes in question are Anagyrous, Eleusis, Halai Aixonides, Kopros, 
Kothokidai, Lamptrai, Oe, and Thria. The Mesogaios demes are Cholleidai, Erchia, 
Gargettos, Ionidai, Kephisia, Kikynna, Koionai, Konthyie, Kydantidai, Myrrhinoutta, 
Oa, Paiania (both), Paionidai, Pelekes, Pergase, Sphettos, Teithras, and Trinemeia. 



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MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN 237 

all fourth-century rhetores and strategoi belonged to demes outside 
the larger circle.25 Some of them undoubtedly had moved to Athens, 
but others were probably still living in their ancestral demes. 

How can political activity be combined with residence far from the 
political centres? This is a complex question, and here I will confine 
myself to discussing membership in the boule for demotai from a 
remote deme, e.g. Anaphlystos. Every year the Anaphlystioi had ten 
bouleutai appointed. Some of the candidates doubtless resided in 
Athens, such as Konon II, Timotheos II, and Konon III. But given 
that most and perhaps all citizens had to serve on the boule at least 
once, some of the bouleutai representing Anaphlystos, perhaps even a 
majority of them, must have been local. How did they fulfil their 
civic duties during their year in office? The Anaphlystioi residing in 
Athens could of course attend as many of the ca 250 meetings of the 
boule as they wished, but those living in Anaphlystos probably stayed 
away from most meetings, attending only when they happened to be 
in Athens for other reasons, such as a festival or trade in the Agora. 
But their uninterrupted presence in Athens may have been requested 
during the prytany of Antiochis, the tribe to which Anaphlystos 
belonged. The prytaneis were on duty every day. A trittys ton prytaneon 
stayed in the Tholos all the time. The prytaneis had common meals, 
and two-thirds (in ordinary years) or four-fifths (in intercalary) of 
them had to serve for twenty-four hours as the epistates ton prytaneon 
(Arist. Ath.Pol. 44.1-3). That the principal duty for a boufeutes was to 
serve as a prytanis is indicated both by an illuminating passage in 
Plato's Laws relating to his ideal city Magnesia,26 and by the fact that 
most of the bouleutic inscriptions are dedications set up by prytaneis. 
I believe that a prytanis living in a remote deme probably had to 
move to Athens and stay with a relative or demotes during the pry­
tany allotted to his tribe. During the other nine prytanies his deme 
was probably represented in the boule mostly by demotai who had 
moved to Athens permanently. 

Two conclusions can be drawn in summation concerning politically 
active citizens in fourth-century Athens. (1) Their official distribution 

25 In Folkeforsamlingen (Copenhagen 1977) 70f I accepted a circle of 20 km. radius, 
which however gives almost the same figures. For a judicious treatment of the problem 
c( R. Osborne, Town-Country Relations in the Athenian Polis (Diss.Cambridge 198I) 
i44-50. See also P. Harding, "In Search of a Polypragmatist," Classical Contributions: 
Studies . .. McGregor (New York 1981) 46-47, and E. Kluwe, "Die soziale Zusammen­
setzung der athenischen Ekklesia," Klio 58 (I976) 298. Harding believes that the 
Athenians were capable of walking long distances in order to attend political meetings, 
while Kluwe is more pessimistic; I am inclined to follow Harding. 

26 Leg. 758B, cf Rhodes (supra n.9) 39. 



HANSEN, MOGENS HERMAN, Political Activity and the Organization of Attica in the Fourth 
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238 POLITICAL ACTIVITY AND ATTICA 

over the three districts of Asty, Paralia, and Mesogaios matches the 
distribution of bouleutic quotas so well that it is difficult to believe 
that the quotas are those fixed by Kleisthenes, and not revised later, 
say in 403/2. Likewise, if we accept that most citizens above thirty 
had to serve at least once in the boule, then the bouleutic quota 
assigned each deme must in most cases have matched almost exactly 
the number of citizens actually eligible, and again it is almost un­
believable that the distribution of eligible citizens over the demes was 
unchanged from the late sixth century to the late fourth, or that 
Kleisthenes anticipated the inevitable changes. Either the bouleutic 
quotas were revised (e.g. in 403/2) to match the actual fourth-cen­
tury population, or there must have been considerably more eligible 
citizens than we are used to believe, so that all demes, even after 
considerable changes in population, were still populous enough to fill 
their number of seats in the boule. (2) The number of known rhetores 
and strategoi and of jurors attested on dicastic pinakia indicates that 
only a fourth or so of all politically active citizens belonged to the 
demes in the Asty. This is a strong indica ton that there had been a 
considerable migration from country to city and that many citizens 
still living in the Paralia and Mesogaios demes not too far from Ath­
ens were willing to walk long distances to attend the political assem­
blies. 

THE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY AND 

THE UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN 

July, 1983