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 Classical Athens, the term was used specifically for the urban demoi of the Attica, as opposed to the inland (mesogeia) and coastal (paralia) demoi that comprised each of the ten 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]