File:View of the Acropolis of Athens (left) and the Monument of Philopappos (right) from the area of the deme of Melite. In the distance Mount Hymettus.jpg

English: The deme of Melite was one of the most populous and important demes of the city of Athens, where such distinguished politicians, generals, and philosophers as Themistocles, Miltiades, Cimon, Alcibiades, Epicurus, and others had their houses. It extended south and southwest of the Ancient Agora and had a commanding position on the rock slope of the Hills of Kolonos Agoraios, the Nymphs, and the Pnyx, with a view of the Acropolis, the endless olive groves and the sea and with immediate contact with such political centres as the Athenian Agora and the Pnyx. Already in the archaic period, the Deme of Melite housed on the Pnyx the structure for the meetings of the Athenian political assembly and important shrines of Zeus and of the Nymphs, on the Hills of the Nymphs and Saint Marina.

In classical times, when the West Hills were enclosed by the Themistoclean Wall, there was much building within the deme, extending up the rocky heights, with shrines, commercial and industrial activities and a thick network of roads and water channels. When the “Diateichisma” was built at the end of the 4th century B.C. extent of the area enclosed at the west of the Themistoclean Wall was reduced. The deme gradually became less important and was taken over by roadside cemeteries in late Hellenistic and Roman times. Today remains of the deme of Melite are to be seen in the bedrock-houses, shrines, workshops, waterworks, a thick network of streets, defense works, burial complexes, etc. They offer valuable information about the architecture of fortifications and of private and public buildings, and they give us an especially interesting picture of the town planning of ancient Athens.

Text: Information board on archaeological site.