{{Other uses}} {{Short description|Ancient Greek word for the physical space of a city or town}} [[File:CarteAttiqueApresClisthene.jpg|thumb|The division of Attica into urban (pink), inland (green), and coastal (blue) zones by Cleisthenes]]
'''Asty''' ({{langx|el|ἄστυ}}; {{IPA|grc|ásty|lang}}) was the physical space of a city or town in Ancient Greece, especially as opposed to the political concept of a ''polis'', which encompassed the entire territory and citizen body of a city-state.<ref name="NP">{{cite encyclopedia | last = Lohmann | first = Hans | title = Asty | encyclopedia = Brill's New Pauly | publisher = Brill Online | doi = 10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e204870 }}</ref>
In Classical Athens, the ''asty'' was specifically the urban ''demoi'' of Attica, as opposed to the inland (''mesogeia'') and coastal (''paralia'') ''demoi'' that comprised each of the ten Attic tribes.<ref name="NP"/> Despite their name, most of the ''demoi'' of the ''asty'' were rural in character.<ref name="NP"/> Comprising about 42 of the 139 ''demoi'' of the Athenian state, they provided about 130 ''bouleutai'' in the 500-strong ''boule''.<ref name="NP"/> However, due to their proximity to the city of Athens, they were over-represented in the institutions of the Athenian democracy; in surviving records, the names of the ''bouleutai'' from the ''asty'' are mentioned 1.5 to 2 times as often as those from the rest of Attica.<ref name="NP"/>
==Asty Demoi== Asty demoi located within Athens inside the Themistoclean Wall: * Coele * Collytus * Cydathenaeum * Melite * Scambonidae Asty demoi located within Athens outside the Themistoclean Wall: * Ankyle (Upper & Lower) * Agryle (Upper & Lower) * Alopece * Butadae * Cerameis * Ceriadae * Daedalidae * Diomea * Laciadae * Piraeus * Xypete Asty demoi located outside Athens: * Cholargos * Colonae * Ikarion * Probalinthos * Rhamnous * Semachidae Unlocated asty demoi: * Cholleidai * Eitea * Hippotomadai * Otryne
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Ancient Attica Category:Ancient Greek government