Kydathenaion

Kydathenaion (Greek: Κυδαθήναιον, Latin: Cydathenaeum) was one of the demes in ancient Athens. It belonged in the phyle (tribe) Aigeis (Greek: Αἰγηΐς).^[1]

When Cleisthenes formally established the deme system in 508/7 BC, Kydathenaion was the third largest deme after Acharnae and Aphidna.^[2] Its population is estimated to have been around 3300–3600 people.^[3]

Kydathenaion was one of the five demes located within the walls of the city of Athens (alongside Koile, Kollytos, Melite, and Skambonidai).^[4]

Kydathenaion was in the very heart of Athens: it contained Acropolis,^[5] and possibly Areopagus.^[6]

Notable people from the deme include:

• Cleon (died 422 BC), statesman and a general during the Peloponnesian War^[7]
• Andocides (440–390 BC), one of the ten Attic orators^[8]
• Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 BC), comic playwright^[7]
• Nicochares (died c. 345 BC), comic poet^[9]
• Echedemos (fl. 190 BC), statesman, ambassador^[10]

Notes

References

• Luke Hendriks (2012). Athens and the Attic Demes. Doctoral thesis, Leiden University.
• Pantos A. Pantos (1989). "Echedemos, "The Second Attic Phoibos"". Hesperia 58 (3): 277–288. 
• Kenneth J. Reckford (1987). Aristophanes' Old-and-new Comedy. University of North Carolina Press. 
• W. E. Thompson (1970). "Notes on Andocides" (PDF). Acta Classica 13: 141–148. 
• John S. Traill (1975). The political Organization of Attica. American School of Classical Studies at Athens. 
• Rodney S. Young (1951). "An Industrial District of Ancient Athens" (PDF). Hesperia 20 (3): 135–288.