The Deme system

• Deme


  A village or district which was the smallest political constituency in the athenian democratic system
• Demes were created from various districts of the city (there were 139 in all of Attica)
• each deme had its own council, with an assembly, officers, treasurers and annually elected leader called a demarch
• A deme managed local affairs like the local government does today
• The deme became the defining turning point of Citizenship because every athenian had to register in what he regarded as his local deme (membership in a deme was hereditary) + at the age of 18 a young man had to register in his fathers deme and pass a citizenship test
• deme system = 508/7