Phyle

For the suburb of Athens, see Fyli. For the fortress of ancient Attica, see Phyle (Attica). For the geometer moth genus, see Phyle (moth).
Attica after Cleisthenes' reforms with the ten "tribes", thirty "trittyes", and the demes.

Phyle (Greek: φυλή, romanized: phulē, lit. 'tribe, clan'; pl. phylai, φυλαί; derived from Greek φύεσθαι, phyesthai lit. 'to descend, to originate') is an ancient Greek term for tribe or clan.[1] Members of the same phyle were known as symphyletai (Greek: συμφυλέται) meaning 'fellow tribesmen'.[2] During the late 6th century BC, Cleisthenes organized the population of Athens in ten phylai (tribes), each consisting of three trittyes ("thirtieths"), with each trittys comprising a number of demes. Tribes and demes had their own officers and were self-administered.[3] 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 Doris.

  1. ^ Pritchard 2000, p. 104–118.
  2. ^ Pritchard 2000, p. 104, 115.
  3. ^ McLean, Bradley Hudson (2002). 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). University of Michigan Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-472-11238-8.