seems to have been
maintained. In ancient times the citizens were divided into three classes:
the Eupatridae or nobility; the Geomorae or farmers; and the Demiurgae or
artisans, merchants, potters or fishermen,--in fact all who exercised some
occupation.

"The political unity of Attica was centred in the plain of Cephisos, which
was the kernel of the country. In the lower part of the plain, about a
mile from the sea, situated on a plateau, and crowning a high rocky
elevation, lay the ancient fortress Cekropia, the residence of Cecrops and
Erechtheus, the mythical, earth-born forefathers of the Athenians. At the
foot of the fortress, a lower town gradually grew up and spread itself
towards the south. This primitive Athens originally formed only the
nucleus of a small kingdom situated in the plains and surrounded by
enemies.... According to an Attic tradition Cecrops collected the
inhabitants of Attica into 12 ... tribes, states or communities.... The
names of several of these have been shown to have also been applied to
capitals which were independent centres of government. Athens, the centre
of the state, developed into a large city in which the nobility of the
whole country resided and where many artisans also settled. The majority
of the citizens lived, however, in the surrounding country.... The harvest
festival, held at ancient Athens, in honor of the goddess Athene, the
patroness of agriculture, was also a general feast for all inhabitants of
Attica ..." (pp. 104-108).

The foregoing suffices to establish that, in remotest antiquity, Attica
was divided into four territorial divisions, with a central seat of
government, the capital, which formed the fifth division. The inhabitants
of the four regions constituted four tribes, each under its own chieftain.
Each tribe became identified with a different occupation and ultimately
constituted castes which remained associated with their place of
residence. Simultaneously with this territorial distribution, another
classification of the population was evolved, which divided it into three
strata, corresponding to the upper, central and lower caste and thus
yielded a total of seven great divisions of the state, which thus reveals
itself as having been a heptarchy and explains the constitution of the
Heptanomis, which existed in Central Egypt under Greek rule.

From the preceding material it appears that when Solon divided the people
into four classes, he merely reinstated