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Polis

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For other uses, seePolis (disambiguation).
Acropolis of Athens,a notedpolisof classical Greece.
Ancient Alexandria in c. 30 BC, apolisof Hellenistic Egypt.
Theatre of ancientSyracuse,a classicalpolis.

Polis(/ˈpɒl[invalid input: 'ɨ']s/;Greek:πόλιςpronounced[pólis]), pluralpoleis(/ˈpɒleɪz/,πόλεις[póleːs]) literally meanscityin Greek. It can also meancitizenshipand body of citizens. In modern historiography,polisis normally used to indicate theancient Greek city-states,likeClassical Athensand its contemporaries, and thus is often translated as "city-state".

TheAncient Greekcity-state developed during theArchaicperiod as the ancestor of city, state, and citizenship and persisted (though with decreasing influence) well intoRomantimes, when the equivalentLatinword wascivitas,also meaning "citizenhood", whilemunicipiumapplied to a non-sovereign local entity. The term "city-state", which originated in English (alongside the GermanStadtstaat), does not fully translate the Greek term. Thepoleiswere not like other primordial ancient city-states likeTyreorSidon,which were ruled by a king or a smalloligarchy,but rather political entities ruled by their bodies of citizens. The traditional view of archaeologists—that the appearance ofurbanizationat excavation sites could be read as a sufficient index for the development of apolis—was criticised byFrançois Polignacin 1984[1][a]and has not been taken for granted in recent decades: thepolisof Sparta, for example, was established in a network of villages. The termpolis,which in archaic Greece meant "city", changed with the development of the governance center in the city to signify "state" (which included its surrounding villages). Finally, with the emergence of a notion of citizenship among landowners, it came to describe the entire body of citizens. The ancient Greeks did not always refer toAthens,Sparta,Thebes,and otherpoleisas such; they often spoke instead of the Athenians, Lacedaemonians, Thebans and so on. The body of citizens came to be the most important meaning of the termpolisin ancient Greece.

TheGreekterm that specifically meant the totality ofurbanbuildings and spaces isἄστυ(pronounced[ásty]).

Thepolisin Ancient Greek philosophy

Platoanalyzes thepolisinThe Republic,whose Greek title, Πολιτεία (Politeia), itself derives from the wordpolis.The best form of government of thepolisfor Plato is the one that leads to the common good. Thephilosopher kingis the best ruler because, as a philosopher, he is acquainted with theForm of the Good.In Plato's analogy of theship of state,the philosopher king steers thepolis,as if it were a ship, in the best direction.

Books II–IV ofThe Republicare concerned with Plato addressing the makeup of an idealpolis.InThe Republic,Socrates is concerned with the two underlying principles of any society: mutual needs and differences in aptitude. Starting from these two principles, Socrates deals with the economic structure of an idealpolis.According to Plato, there are five main economic classes of anypolis:producers, merchants, sailors/shipowners, retail traders, and wage earners. Along with the two principles and five economic classes, there are four virtues. The four virtues of a "just city" include, wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice. With all of these principles, classes, and virtues, it was believed that a "just city" (polis) would exist.

Archaic and classicalpoleis

The basic and indicating elements of apolisare:

  • Self-governance, autonomy, and independence (city-state)
  • Agora:the social hub and financial marketplace, on and around a centrally located, large open space
  • Acropolis:the citadel, inside which a temple had replaced the erstwhileMycenaeananáktoron(palace) ormégaron(hall)
  • Greek urban planning and architecture, public, religious, and private (seeHippodamian plan)
  • Temples,altars,and sacred precincts: one or more are dedicated to thepoliouchos,the patron deity of the city; eachpoliskept its own particularfestivalsand customs (Political religion,as opposed to the individualized religion of later antiquity). Priests and priestesses, although often drawn from certain families by tradition, did not form a separate collegiality or class; they were ordinary citizens who on certain occasions were called to perform certain functions.
  • Gymnasia
  • Theatres
  • Walls: used for protection from invaders
  • Coins:minted by the city, and bearing its symbols
  • Coloniesbeing founded by theoikistesof themetropolis
  • Political life: it revolved around the sovereignEkklesia(the assembly of all adult male citizens for deliberation and voting), the standingbouleand other civic or judicial councils, thearchonsand other officials or magistrates elected either by vote or by lot,clubs,etc., and sometimes punctuated bystasis(civil strife between parties, factions or socioeconomic classes, e.g., aristocrats, oligarchs, democrats, tyrants, the wealthy, the poor, large, or small landowners, etc.). They practiseddirect democracy.
  • Publication of state functions: laws, decrees, and major fiscal accounts were published, and criminal and civil trials were also held in public.
  • Synoecism,conurbation: Absorption of nearby villages and countryside, and the incorporation of their tribes into the substructure of thepolis.Many of apolis'citizens lived in the suburbs or countryside. The Greeks regarded thepolisless as a territorial grouping than as a religious and political association: while thepoliswould control territory and colonies beyond the city itself, thepoliswould not simply consist of a geographical area. Most cities were composed of severaltribesorphylai,which were in turn composed ofphratries(common-ancestry lineages), and finallygénea(extended families).
  • Social classesand citizenship: Dwellers of thepoliswere generally divided into four types of inhabitants, with status typically determined by birth:
    • Citizens with full legal andpolitical rights—that is, free adult men born legitimately of citizen parents. They had theright to vote,be elected into office, andbear arms,and the obligation to serve when at war.
    • Citizens without formal political rights but with full legal rights: the citizens' female relatives and underage children, whose political rights and interests were meant to be represented by their adult male relatives.
    • Citizens of otherpoleiswho chose to reside elsewhere (themetics,μέτοικοι,métoikoi,literally "transdwellers" ): though free-born and possessing full rights in their place of origin, they had full legal rights but no political rights in their place of residence. Metics could not vote, be elected to office, bear arms, or serve in war. They otherwise had full personal and property rights, albeit subject to taxation.
    • Slaves:chattelin full possession of their owner, and with no privileges other than those that their owner would grant (or revoke) at will.

Hellenistic and Roman

During theHellenistic period,which marks the decline of the classicalpolis,the following cities remained independent:Spartauntil 195 BC after theWar against Nabis.Achaean Leagueis the last example of original Greek city-state federations (dissolved after theBattle of Corinth (146 BC)). TheCretancity-states continued to be independent (exceptItanusandArsinoe,which lay under Ptolemaic influence) until the conquest of Crete in 69 BC by Rome. The cities ofMagna Graecia,with the notable examples ofSyracuseandTarentum,were conquered by Rome in the late 3rd century BC. There are also some cities with recurring independence likeSamos,Priene,Miletus,andAthens.[2]A remarkable example of a city-state that flourished during this era isRhodes,through its merchant navy,[3]until43 BCand the Roman conquest.

The Hellenisticcolonies and citiesof the era retain some basic characteristics of apolis,except the status of independence (city-state) and the political life. There is self-governance (like the new Macedonian titlepolitarch), but under a ruler and king. The political life of the classical era was transformed into an individualized religious and philosophical view of life (see Hellenisticphilosophyandreligion). Demographic decline forced the cities to abolish the status ofmeticand bestow citizenship; in 228 BC,Miletusenfranchised over 1,000 Cretans.[4]Dymesold its citizenship for one talent, payable in two installments. The foreign residents in a city are now calledparoikoi.In an age when most political establishments in Asia are kingdoms, theChrysaorian Leaguein Caria was a Hellenistic federation ofpoleis.

During theRoman era,some cities were granted the status of apolis,or free city, self-governed under the Roman Empire.[5]The last institution commemorating the old Greekpoleiswas thePanhellenion,established by Hadrian.

Derived words

Derivatives ofpolisare common in many modernEuropeanlanguages. This is indicative of the influence of thepolis-centred Hellenic world view. Derivative words in English includepolicy,polity,police,andpolitics.InGreek,words deriving frompolisincludepolitēsandpolitismos,whose exact equivalents inLatin,Romance,and other European languages, respectivelycivis( "citizen" ),civilisatio( "civilization" ), etc., are similarly derived.

A number of words end in-polis.Most refer to a special kind of city and/or state. Examples include:

Others refer to part of a city or a group of cities, such as:

Names

Polis, Cyprus

Located on the northwest coast ofCyprusis the town ofPolis,orPolis Chrysochous(Greek:Πόλις Χρυσοχούς), situated within thePaphos Districtand on the edge of theAkamas peninsula.During the Cypro-Classical period, Polis became one of the most important ancient Cypriot city-kingdoms on the island, with important commercial relations with the easternAegean Islands,Attica,andCorinth.The town is also well known due to itsmythologicalhistory, including the site of the Baths ofAphrodite.

Other cities

The names of several other towns and cities inEuropeand theMiddle Easthave contained the suffix-polissince antiquity or currently feature modernized spellings, such as-pol.Notable examples include:

The names of other cities were also given the suffix-polisafter antiquity, either referring to ancient names or unrelated:

Some cities have also been given nicknames ending with the suffix-polis,usually referring to their characteristics:

See also

Notes

  1. ^An attempt to dissociate urbanization from state formation was undertaken byMorris, I (1991), "The early polis as city and state", in Rich, J; Wallace-Hadrill, A (eds.),City and Country in the Ancient World,London, pp. 27–40{{citation}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

References

  1. ^Polignac, François (1984),La naissance de la cité grecque(in French), Paris{{citation}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
  2. ^Dmitriev, Sviatoslav (2005),City government in Hellenistic and Roman Asia minor,p. 68,ISBN0-19-517042-3.
  3. ^Wilson, Nigel Guy (2006),Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece,p. 627,ISBN978-0-415-97334-2.
  4. ^Milet I, 3,pp. 33–8.[clarification needed]
  5. ^Howgego, Christopher;Heuchert, Volhker; Burnett, Andrew (2007),Coinage and Identity in the Roman Provinces,p. 158,ISBN0-19-923784-0.

Further reading

  • Public DomainThis article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911).Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.{{cite encyclopedia}}:Missing or empty|title=(help)
  • Hansen, Mogens Herman(2006),Polis: An Introduction to the Ancient Greek City-State,Oxford: Oxford University Press,ISBN0-19-920849-2{{citation}}:|format=requires|url=(help);paperback, ISBN 0-19-920850-6.
  • Hansen, Mogens Herman, ed. (the 250th anniversary of The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, July 1–4, 1992), "The Ancient Greek City-State",Acts(Symposium), Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser, vol. 1, Copenhagen: The Copenhagen Polis Centre{{citation}}:Check date values in:|date=and|year=/|date=mismatch (help).
  • Hansen, Mogens Herman, ed. (August 24–27, 1994), "Sources for The Ancient Greek City-State",Acts(symposium), Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser, vol. 2, Copenhagen: The Copenhagen Polis Centre{{citation}}:Check date values in:|year=/|date=mismatch (help).
  • Hansen, Mogens Herman, ed. (August 23–26, 1995), "Introduction to an Inventory of Poleis",Acts(symposium), Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk- filosofiske Meddelelser, vol. 3, Copenhagen: The Copenhagen Polis Centre{{citation}}:Check date values in:|year=/|date=mismatch (help).
  • Hansen, Mogens Herman (August 29–31, 1996), "The Polis as an Urban Centre and as a Political Community",Acts of the Copenhagen Polis Centre(symposium), Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser, vol. 4, Copenhagen{{citation}}:Check date values in:|year=/|date=mismatch (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
  • Hansen, Mogens Herman, ed. (January 9, 1998), "Polis and City-State. An Ancient Concept and its Modern Equivalent",Acts(symposium), Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser, vol. 5, Copenhagen: The Copenhagen Polis Centre.
  • Hansen, Mogens Herman, ed. (January 7–10, 2004), "The imaginary polis. Symposium",Acts,Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser, vol. 7, Copenhagen: The Copenhagen Polis Centre{{citation}}:Check date values in:|year=/|date=mismatch (help).
  • Mogens Herman Hansen & Kurt Raaflaub (edd), Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis. Papers from the Copenhagen Polis Centre 2, Stuttgart: Steiner 1995 (Historia Einzelschriften 95)
  • Mogens Herman Hansen & Kurt Raaflaub (edd), More Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis. Papers from the Copenhagen Polis Centre 3, Stuttgart: Steiner 1996 (Historia Einzelschriften 108)
  • The Copenhagen Polis Center
  • Berent Moshe. "Greece: The Stateless Polis (11th-4th Centuries B.C.)". In Grinin L. E. et al. (eds.)The Early State, Its Alternatives and Analogues(pp. 364–387). Volgograd, Uchitel, 2004The early State, Its Alternatives and AnaloguesISBN 9785705705474
  • Vliet, E. van der.Polis. The Problem of Statehood. Social Evolution & History4(2), September 2005 (pp. 120–150)Polis. The Problem of Statehood

External links

  • The dictionary definition ofpolisat Wiktionary
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