Polis
Polis (/ˈpɒlɪs/, US: /ˈpoʊlɪs/; Greek: πόλις, Greek pronunciation: [pólis]), plural poleis (/ˈpɒleɪz/, πόλεις, Greek pronunciation: [póleːs]), means ‘city’ in ancient Greek. The modern Greek word, πόλη (polē), which has descended from πόλις, is also translated by English "city," but the meaning is not the same.
Ancient Greek Polis
πόλις | |
|---|---|
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 akro-polis, "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. | |
| Etymology: "walls" | |
| 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. |
| • Body | The assembly, or ekklesia, although in the more autocratic forms of administration, it met rarely. The day-to-day governing was performed by magistrates, called archons. |
| Area | |
| • max area of 60% of poleis | 100 km2 (40 sq mi) |
| • max area of 80% of poleis | 200 km2 (80 sq mi) |
| Population (400 BC) | |
| • Total | 7,500,000+ |
| Demonym(s) | 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 godess Athena; hence the demos was the Athenaioi, "the Athenians." |
Πόλη means about the same as "city," or urban place, in any modern language. The Ancient Greek term that specifically meant the totality of urban buildings and spaces is asty (ἄστυ), rather than polis. Today's πόλη is located within a χώρα (khôra), "country," which is a πατρίδα (patrida) or "native land" for its citizens. In ancient Greek, the polis is the native land; there is no other. Modern countries do not yet exist. χώρα is only the countryside. Ancient Greece is not a sovereign country, but is a territory occupied by Hellenes, people who claimed as their native language some dialect of ancient Greek.
The world of the polis was not co-terminous with the modern Republic of Greece. A collaborative study carried on 1993-2003 by the Copenhagen Polis Centre classified about 1500 settlements of the Archaic and Classical ancient-Greek-speaking population as poleis. These ranged from the Caucasus to southern Spain east-west and from southern Russia to northern Egypt north-south over the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. They have been termed a network of micro-states. Many of the settlements still exist; e.g., Marseilles, Syracuse, Alexandria, but they are no longer Hellenic or micro-states, belonging to other countries.
The entire geographic area where Hellenes were located, however, was divided conventionally into homeland regions (scholarly term) and colonies. The homeland regions were located on the Greek mainland and are now mainly divisions of the Republic of Greece. Each gave an ethnic or "racial" name to its population and poleis. Acarnania, for example was the location of the Acarnanian people and poleis.
The world of the polis was not co-terminous with Greek-speaking poleis. Aristotle's study of the polis names also Carthage, comparing its constitution to that of Sparta. Phoenician was spoken at Carthage. Many nominally Greek colonies also included municipalities of non-Greek speakers, such as Syracuse.