Iphistiadae ( grc, Ἰφιστιάδαι, Iphistiadai) or Hephaestiadae ( grc, Ἡφαιστιάδαι, Hephaistiadai) was one of the

deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and ear ...

s, or townships of

Acamantis Acamantis ( el, Ακαμαντίς) was one of the phylai (tribes) of classical Athens, created during the reforms of Cleisthenes. It was named after the legendary hero Acamas, and included the demes of Cholargos, Eiresidai, Hermos, Iphistiadai, ...

, one of the ten '' phylae'' 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 ...

established by Cleisthenes at the end of the sixth century BC. It seems to have been named for Iphistius, an obscure hero, with the alternative form, ''Hephaestiadae'', arising from the mistaken assumption that it was named after the god Hephaestus, a much more familiar figure. The two names misled the geographer William Martin Leake to identify Iphistiadae and Hephaestiadae as two separate demes. Iphistiadae is mentioned in the ''Ethnica'' of

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethn ...

, and the lexicon of Hesychius of Alexandria.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'', vol. I, p. 326 (No. 29, "Iphistiadae or Hephaestiadae").

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

owned an estate at Iphistiadae, which by will he left to a certain youth named Adeimantus, presumably a younger relative, as Plato had an elder brother or uncle by this name.

Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal sour ...

describes the provision:

These things have been left and devised by Plato: the estate in Iphistiadae, bounded on the north by the road from the temple at Cephisia, on the south by the temple of Heracles in Iphistiadae, on the east by the property of Archestratus of Phrearrhi, on the west by that of Philippus of Chollidae: this it shall be unlawful for anyone to sell or alienate, but it shall be the property of the boy Adeimantus to all intents and purposes...Diogenes Laërtius, " The Life of Plato", 41.

According to this passage, Iphistiadae was home to a Heracleion, or temple of

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...

, from which the modern municipality of

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Gree ...

, corresponding to the location of ancient Iphistiadae, derives its name. Thus, Iphistiadae was about five miles northeast of

Athens 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 ...

, two miles west of Athmonon (modern Marousi), and three miles southwest of Cephisia (modern Kifissia).

References

Bibliography

, '' Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers''. * '' Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'', William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1854). Populated places in ancient Attica Former populated places in Greece Demoi {{AncientAttica-geo-stub