Asty
Asty (Greek: ἄστυ; Ancient Greek: [ásty]) is an ancient Greek word denoting the physical space of a city or town, especially as opposed to the political concept of a polis, which encompassed the entire territory and citizen body of a city-state.[1] A similar distinction exists in Latin between urbs and civitas.
In
Attic tribes.[1] Despite their name, most of the demoi of the asty were rural in character.[1] Comprising about 42 of the 139 demoi of the Athenian state, they provided about 130 bouleutai in the 500-strong boule.[1] 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.[1]