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polis

Polis (: poleis) means 'city' in Ancient Greek. The ancient word polis had socio-political connotations not possessed by modern usage. For example, Modern Greek πόλη (póli), "city", is located within a (chóra), "country", which is a πατρίδα (patrída) or "native land" for its citizens. In ancient Greece, the polis was the native land; there was no other. It had a constitution and demanded the supreme loyalty of its citizens. Χώρα was only the countryside, not a country. Ancient Greece was not a sovereign country; rather, it was territory occupied by Hellenes, people who claimed as their native

AI overview

A polis was an ancient Greek city-state that functioned as its citizens' entire native land, complete with its own constitution and demanding their supreme loyalty—quite different from a modern city, which exists within a larger country. This distinction matters because it shows that ancient Greece was actually a collection of independent city-states rather than a unified nation, fundamentally shaping how Greek society, politics, and identity worked.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Key facts

Settlement.image_caption: Acropolis of Athens, a noted polis of Classical Greece. The polis was the whole city, which had its own walls. Shown is a part of the polis, the akropolis, "city heights", which was never alone regarded as its own city. The origins of the settlement are lost in prehistoric times. Also included in the classical Athenian polis were suburban locations in the region of Attica, such as the port, Piraeus.
Settlement.etymology: "walls"
Settlement.government_type: Republic, or commonwealth. The ultimate authority was considered to reside in the citizenry, the demos, despite the broad variation in the form of the administration.
Settlement.governing_body: The assembly, or ekklesia, although in the more autocratic forms of administration, it met rarely. Magistrates performed the day-to-day governing, called archons.
Settlement.unit_pref: Metric
Settlement.area_blank1_title: max area of 60% of poleis
Settlement.area_blank1_km2: 100
Settlement.area_blank2_title: max area of 80% of poleis
Settlement.area_blank2_km2: 200
Settlement.population_as_of: 400 BC
Settlement.population_total: 7500000+
Settlement.population_density_km2: auto
Settlement.population_demonym: Dēmos in the Attic-Ionic dialects or dãmos in the Doric. The demonym was formed by producing the name of a people from the name of the polis. For example, the polis of Athens was named Athenai after the goddess Athena; hence the demos was the Athenaioi, "the Athenians".
Settlement.name: Polis
Settlement.native_name_lang: gr
Settlement.settlement_type: Constitutional microstate
Settlement.image_skyline: Attica 06-13 Athens 50 View from Philopappos - Acropolis Hill.jpg

via Wikipedia infobox

~42 min read

Article

15 sections

Contents

Definition
Modern usage
Modern models
The subjective element of a model
Problems with Coulanges' ancient city
Problems with the city-state
Ancient Greek models
Aristotle's polis
The polis as community
The polis as state
See also
Notes
References
Sources
External links

Poleis did not only exist within the area of the modern Republic of Greece. A collaborative study carried by the Copenhagen Polis Centre from 1993 to 2003 classified about 1,500 settlements of the Archaic and Classical ancient-Greek-speaking population as poleis. These ranged from the Caucasus to Southern Spain, and from Southern Russia to Northern Egypt, spread over the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. They have been termed a network of micro-states. Many of the settlements still exist, such as Marseille and Syracuse, but they are no longer Greek or micro-states, belonging to other countries.