In ancient Greece, a country district or village, as distinct from a polis, or city-state. Demos also meant the common people like the Latin plebs. In Cleisthenes' democratic reform at Athens (508/507 BC), the demes of Attica (the area around Athens) were given status in local and state administration. Males 18 years of age were registered in their local demes, thereby acquiring civic status and rights. These local communities retained a basic political and social importance well into the 5th-6th centuries.