Cleisthenes replaced the existing tribal structure by breaking up the traditional and conservative power of the aristocratic families by making the village (the demos or deme) as the unit of electoral democracy. Attica, the territory directly controlled by the Athens, was divided by Cleisthenes into three areas - the city of Athens itself, the coastal district of Attica and the rural inland region. He then replaced Attica's four historical tribes with ten completely new ones. Each of the new tribes (phylae) was to comprise of people, that is demes, one from the city, one from the coast of Attica, and one from the rural inland region. This was known as the trittys system. Membership of all the democratically elected bodies, including the council and all civic and military duties including putting on of theatrical perfomances were then to be shared equally amongst the ten tribes or phyla, that is, for example, each tribe was responsible for the training and equipping of a hoplite regiment as well as a cavalry unit and the appointment of a general to lead their tribe's troops for the defence of Athens; and at the time of the Dionysiac festivals each tribe had to fund and train two choruses of dithyrambic dancers, one of young boys and one of men as well as hire a poet and aulos player to lead them. The new tribes were not all equal: the divisions were not based on size of population, nor on the wealth of the citizens that comprised them.
Over time however the topological logic behind this reorganization broke down, as the rule for membership of a given tribe was hereditary rather than based of its regional location as in the initial setup. Nonetheless the ten new tribes were very soon accepted by all the people of Athens and the system soon become part of everyday life with people giving their loyalty to their newly assigned tribe : Cleisthenes reform was material in the very success of Athenian democracy during the 5th century bc.
References
Deme - Wikipedia
Cleisthenes - Wikipedia
History of Athens - Wikipedia
Metic - Wikipedia
Trittys - Wikipedia
Phyle - Wikipedia
Archive Link
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The Tribes and Eponymous Heroes of the Ancient Athenians
www.stoa.org/athens/essays/tribes.htmlBirth of Democracy: The Ten New Tribes - Agathe.gr
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Cleisthenes' Creation of the Ten Tribes of Athens
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DEME THEATERS IN ATTICA AND THE TRITTYS SYSTEM Jessica Paga
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David Pritchard
Phoenix
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David Whitehead (2014). The Demes of Attica, 508/7 -ca. 250 B.C.: A Political and Social Study. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-5768-5.
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