Aixone: insights into an Athenian deme

Extract

The ancient deme of Aixone coincides with the area of the modern Athenian suburb of Glyphada. An extensive, comprehensive study on this deme was published in 1990 by Eleni Konsolaki-Giannopoulou. Since then, new excavation data have come to light which support the conclusions of this study and provide us with even greater insights into the life of the deme. Another monograph on Aixone will be published by Delphine Ackermann in 2017, entitled Une microhistoire d’Athènes. Le dème d’Aixônè dans l’Antiquité.

Aixone, along with neighbouring Halai Aixonidai, belonged to the Kekropis tribe. In Classical and Hellenistic times the settlement extended from the west of Pirnari to the east of modern Leoforos Dimarchou Aggelou Metaxa, thus coinciding for the large part with the area of modern Glyphada. The deme centre lay near the Church of Agios Nikolaos, west of modern Vouliagmenis Avenue (Eliot 1962: 21). To the east of the settlement lay the deme's agricultural lands and to the west the port, salt lake and the salt pits.