<Location> Agora, Athens, Greece
<Also Known As> The monument of the Eponymous Heroes
This is the base of statues of the 10 legendary eponymous founders of the 10 Athenian tribes. What remains now is only some parts of the foundation and the fence (this last was mostly reconstruction). Originally there was a statue-base of about 16.64 metre-long in the middle, and on it there stood 10 statues and two tripods at the both end.
Archaeological investigation has ascertained that the monument was installed here in ca. 330 BC., but it is also sure from literary sources, like Aristophanes, that the Heroon existed in 420 BC at the latest. It follows that the monument was either reconstructed here, or moved to here from another location.
The tribe system of Athens dates back to the Reform of Kleisthenes, in 508/7 BC, when all the Athenian citizens were divided in the 10 tribes. At this occasion, Kleisthenes sought the Apolline Oracle of Delphi, and according to it, he gave each tribe the names of 10 Athenian heroes. The original 10 tribes were: Hippotheontis, Antiochis, Aiantis, Leontis, Erechtheis, Aigeis, Oineis, Akamantis, Kekropis, Pandionis.
In 307/6 BC, when Demetrios Poliorketes restored the democracy to Athens, sending Demetrios of Phaleron, who was leading oligarchy, to exile. To express their gratitude, the Athenians added two tribes called Demetrias and Antigonis, under the names of Demetrios and his fater Antigonos Monophthalmos, king of Macedonia. When Pausanias visited Athens, there were 12 statues here, and the last was the emperor Hadrianus, who became the founder of the tribe Hadrianis.
