Phyle

{{Short description|Ancient Greek term for tribe or clan}} {{for multi|the suburb of Athens|Fyli|the fortress of ancient Attica|Phyle (Attica)|the geometer moth genus|Phyle (moth)}} [[File:L'Attique après Clisthene.jpg|thumb|Attica after [[Cleisthenes]]' reforms with the ten "tribes", thirty "[[Trittys|trittyes]]", and the [[Deme|demes]].]] '''''Phyle''''' ({{langx|el|φυλή|phulē}}, {{Lit|tribe, clan}}; <small>[[Plural|pl.]]</small> '''''phylai''''', {{lang|grc|φυλαί}}; derived from Greek {{lang|grc|φύεσθαι}}, ''phyesthai'' {{Lit|to descend, to originate}}) is an [[ancient Greek]] term for [[tribe]] or [[clan]].{{sfn|Pritchard|2000|p=104–118}} Members of the same ''phyle'' were known as ''symphyletai'' ({{langx|el|συμφυλέται}}) meaning 'fellow tribesmen'.{{sfn|Pritchard|2000|p=104, 115}} During the late 6th century BC, [[Cleisthenes]] organized the population of [[Athens]] in ten ''phylai'' (tribes), each consisting of three [[Trittys|''trittyes'']] ("thirtieths"), with each ''trittys'' comprising a number of [[Deme|demes]]. Tribes and demes had their own officers and were self-administered.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McLean |first=Bradley Hudson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x2AD3M77TgMC |title=An Introduction to Greek Epigraphy of the Hellenistic and Roman Periods from Alexander the Great Down to the Reign of Constantine (323 B.C.-A.D. 337) |date=2002 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-11238-8 |pages=97 |language=en}}</ref> Some ''phylai'' can be classified by their geographic location, such as the Geleontes, the Argadeis, the Hopletes, and the Agikoreis in [[Ionia]], as well as the Hylleans, the Pamphyles, the Dymanes in [[Dorian Pentapolis|Doris]].

==Attic tribes== {{main|Deme#Cleisthenes' reforms and its modifications}}

=== First period === The best-attested new system was that created by [[Cleisthenes]] for [[Attica]] in or just after 508 BC. The landscape was regarded as comprising three zones: urban (''[[asty]]''), coastal (''[[Paralia (trittys)|paralia]]'') and inland (''[[mesogeia]]''). Each zone was split into ten sections called ''[[trittyes]]'' ('thirdings'), to each of which were assigned between one and ten of the 139 existing settlements, villages or town-quarters, which were henceforth called ''[[deme|demoi]]''.

Three sections, one each from urban, coastal and inland, were then put together to form a tribe. The 30 sections therefore yielded ten tribes, each named after a local hero and each with a geographically scattered membership roughly equal in size and hereditary in the male line thenceforward. They rapidly took on various functions.

They became the brigading units for the army; constituencies for the election of magistrates, especially the ten generals (''[[strategoi]]''), for the section of members of the Council of 500 (''[[boule (ancient Greece)|boule]]'') and of the 6,000 jurors, and for the selection of boards of administrative officials of every kind: and bases for the selection of competing teams of runners, singers or dancers at various festivals. They had their own corporate life, with officials and sanctuaries, and came to have an official order:

1. [[Erechtheis]] (Ἐρεχθηΐς)

2. [[Aigeis]] (Αἰγηΐς)

3. [[Pandionis]] (Πανδιονίς)

4. [[Leontis]] (Λεοντίς)

5. [[Acamantis]] (Ἀκαμαντίς)

6. [[Oineis]] (Οἰνηΐς)

7. [[Kekropis]] (Κεκροπίς)

8. [[Hippothontis]] (Ἱπποθοντίς)

9. [[Aiantis]] (Αἰαντίς)

10. [[Antiochis (tribe)|Antiochis]] (Ἀντιοχίς).{{sfn | Macan | 1895 | p=369}}

=== Subsequent periods === After this so called Period I that lasted until 307/306 BC, the system of Phylae had undergone few changes: * in Period II (307/306 – 224/223 BC) two Macedonian Phylai were created (XI. [[Antigonis]] and XII. [[Demetrias (tribe)|Demetrias]]); * in Period III (224/223 – 201/200 BC) an Egyptian Phyle XIII. [[Ptolemais (tribe)|Ptolemais]] was created; * in Period IV (201/200 BC – 126/127 AD) the Macedonian Phylae were dissolved and a Tribe XIV. [[Attalis]], was created; * in Period V (126/127 AD – third century) a tribe XV. [[Hadrianis]] was created.

==Ten tribes of Thurii== When the colony of [[Thurii]] on the [[Gulf of Taranto]] was settled under the support of [[Pericles]] and the command of [[Lampon]] and Xenocritus the population was organized in ten tribes, following the Athenian organization: there were tribes for the population of 1. [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]], 2. [[Achaea]], 3. [[Ancient Elis|Elis]], 4. [[Boeotia]], 5. [[Delphi]], 6. [[Dorians]], 7. [[Ionians]], 8. population of [[Euboea]], 9. the islands and 10. Athenians.<ref>[[Fritz Schachermeyr]], Perikles, [[Kohlhammer Verlag]], Stuttgart–Berlin–Köln–Mainz 1969.</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

== Sources == * {{Cite journal|last=Pritchard|first=David|title=Tribal Participation and Solidarity in Fifth-Century Athens: A Summary|journal=Ancient History|year=2000|volume=30|issue=2|pages=104–118|url=https://www.researchonline.mq.edu.au/vital/access/services/Download/mq:6229/DS01}} * Traill, John S., [https://books.google.com/books?id=vfdkHffQXl4C ''The political organization of Attica: a study of the demes, trittyes, and phylai, and their representation in the Athenian Council''], Princeton : [[American School of Classical Studies at Athens]] (ASCSA), 1975 * {{cite book | title=Herodotus the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Books with Introduction, Notes, Appendices, Indices, Maps | first1 = Reginald Walter | last1 = Macan | volume = I | publisher=Macmillan and Company | year=1895 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yt-qz3fobmgC&pg=PA369 | access-date=2023-11-04}} [[Category:Society of ancient Greece]] [[Category:Ancient tribes in Greece| ]]