Tetrapolis (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: ) comprised one of the twelve districts into which
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 S ...
was divided before the time of
Theseus
Theseus (, ; grc-gre, Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens. The myths surrounding Theseus his journeys, exploits, and friends have provided material for fiction throughout the ages.
Theseus is sometimes describ ...
. The district was on a plain in the northeastern part of Attica and contained four cities:
Marathon (),
Probalinthus (),
Tricorythus (), and
Oenoe ().
Stephanus of Byzantium claimed ''Huttēnia'' (Ὑττηνία) was its name among the
Pelasgoi. The name persisted as a reference to the cities, which shared a religious calendar. Following the reforms of
Cleisthenes in 508, the cities (
demes
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 ...
) of Marathon, Oenoe, and Tricorythus were organised into a single
trittys
The ''trittyes'' (; grc, τριττύες ''trittúes''), singular ''trittys'' (; τριττύς ''trittús'') were part of the organizational structure the divided the population in ancient Attica, and is commonly thought to have been establish ...
along with the city of
Rhamnous
Rhamnous ( grc, Ῥαμνοῦς, Rhamnoûs; el, Ραμνούς, Ramnoús, label=Modern Greek), also Ramnous or Rhamnus, was an ancient Greek city in Attica situated on the coast, overlooking the Euboean Strait. Its impressive ruins lie northwe ...
, whilst Probalinthus belonged to another trittyes; nonetheless, the former was often still referred to as the Tetrapolis despite not including Probalinthus.
Notes
Sources
*
Ancient Greek geography
Geography of ancient Attica
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