A
polis (
πόλις, pronunciation [pól.is], ['pɒl.ɪs] in English)
-- plural:
poleis (
πόλεις, pronunciation [pól.eːs], ['pɒl.eɪz] in English) --
is a
city, a
city-state and also
citizenship and body of citizens. When used to describe
Classical Athens and its contemporaries,
polis is often translated as "city-state."
The word originates from the
ancient Greek city-states, which developed during the
Archaic period, the ancestor of city, state and citizenship, and persisted (though with decreasing influence) well into
Roman times, when the equivalent
Latin word was
civitas, also meaning 'citizenhood', while
municipium applied to a non-sovereign local entity. The term
city-state which originated in English (alongside the German
Stadtstaat) does not fully translate the Greek term. The
poleis were not like other primordial ancient city-states like
Tyre or
Sidon, which were ruled by a king or a small oligarchy, but rather a political entity ruled by its body of citizens. The traditional view of archaeologists, that the appearance of
urbanization at excavation sites could be read as a sufficient index for the development of a
polis was criticised by
François Polignac in 1984 and has not been taken for granted in recent decades: the
polis of Sparta for example was established in a network of villages.The term
polis which in archaic Greece meant city, changed with the development of the governance center in the city to indicate state (which included its surrounding villages), and finally with the emergence of a citizenship notion between the land owners it came to describe the entire body of citizens. The ancient Greeks didn't refer to
Athens,
Sparta,
Thebes and other
poleis as such; they rather spoke of the Athenians, Lacedaemonians, Thebans and so on. The body of citizens came to be the most important meaning of the term
polis in ancient Greece.
The
Ancient Greek term which specifically meant the totality of
urban buildings and spaces was ἄστυ (
IPA:
ásty).
Basic and indicating elements are:
- Self-governance, autonomy and independence (city-state)
- Agora (social and economical market place)
- Acropolis citadel, which now bears a temple instead of the Mycenaean palace.
- Greek temples , one or more are dedicated to the poliouchos patron deity of the city. Each polis kept its own particular festivals and customs. (Political religion, as opposed to the individualized religion of the later antiquity)
- Coins minted by the city, which bear its own symbols.
- Political life, boule council, Greek clubs, Stasis civil strife between aristocrats, oligarchs, democrats and tyrants.
- Synoecism , conurbation. Absorption of villages and the incorporation of their tribes into the substructure of the polis. Many of a polis citizens would have lived in the suburbs or countryside. The Greeks did not regard the polis as a territorial grouping so much as a religious and political association: while the polis would control territory and colonies beyond the city itself, the polis would not simply consist of a geographical area. Most cities were composed of several tribes or phylai, which were in turn composed of phratries, and finally gentes.
- Social classes and citizenship Metics (resident foreigners) and slaves lay outside this organization. Birth typically determined citizenship. Polis was frequently divided into three types of inhabitants. The first, and highest, “group” of inhabitants are citizens with political rights. Then there are the citizens without political rights. Lastly there are the non-citizens.
Hellenistic and Roman era
During the
Hellenistic period, which marks the decline of the classical polis, the following cities remained independent:
Sparta until 195 BC after the
War against Nabis.
Achaean League is the last example of original Greek city-state federations (dissolved after the
Battle of Corinth (146 BC)) . The
Cretan city-states continue to be independent (except
Itanus and
Arsinoe, which lay under Ptolemaic influence) until the conquest of Crete in
69 BC by Rome. The cities of
Magna Graecia, with the notable examples of
Syracuse and
Tarentum, were conquered by Rome in late 3rd century BC. There are also some cities with recurring independence like
Samos,
Priene,
Miletus and
Athens. A remarkable example of a city-state which flourished during this era is
Rhodes through its merchant navy, until
43 BC and the Roman conquest.
The Hellenistic colonies and cities of the era, retain some basic characteristics of a polis, except: the status of independence (city-state) and the political life. There is a self-governance (like the new Macedonian title
politarch) but under a ruler and king. The political life of the classical era is now transformed to an individualized religious and philosophical view of life (see Hellenistic
philosophy and
religion) The demographic decline forced the cities to abolish the status of
metic and bestow citizenship; In 228 BC
Miletus enfranchised over 1000 Cretans. (Milet, I, 3, 33-8.)
Dyme sold its citizenship for one talent, payable in two instalments. The foreign residents in a city are now called
paroikoi. In an age, when most of the establishments in Asia are kingdoms, an interesting example of a Hellenistic cities federation is the
Chrysaorian League in Caria.
During the
Roman era, some cities were granted the status of a polis, free city,self-governed under the Roman Empire. The last institution commemorating the old Greek poleis was the
Panhellenion established by Hadrian.
Derived words
Derivatives of polis
are common in many modern European languages. This is indicative of the influence of the polis
-centred Hellenic world view. Derivative words in English include policy, polity, police and politics. In Greek, words deriving from polis
include politēs
and politismos
, whose exact equivalents in Latin, Romance and other European languages, respectively civis
(citizen), civilisatio
(civilization) etc are similarly derived.
A number of words end in the word "-polis". Most refer to a special kind of city and/or state. Some examples are:
- Astropolis — star-scaled city/industry area; complex space station; a European star-related festival.
- Cosmopolis — a large urban centre with a population of many different cultural backgrounds; a novel written by Don DeLillo.
- Megalopolis, built by merging several cities and their suburbs.
- Metropolis can refer to the mother city of a colony, the see of a metropolitan archbishop or a Metropolitan area — a major urban population centre.
Other refer to part of a city or a group of cities, such as:
- Acropolis, 'high city' — upper part of a polis, often citadel and/or site of major temple(s).
- Tripolis, a group of three cities, retained in the names of a Tripoli in Libya and a namesake in Lebanon
Names
Polis, Cyprus
Located on the north-west coast of Cyprus is the town of Polis, or Polis Chrysochous (), situated within the Paphos District and on the edge of the Akamas 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 eastern Aegean Islands, Attica and Corinth. The town is also well known due to its mythological history, including the site of the "Baths of
Aphrodite".Other cities
The names of several other towns and cities in Europe and the Middle East have contained the suffix "-polis
" since antiquity; or currently feature modernized spellings, such as "-pol
". Notable examples include:
- Simferopol ("city of common good"), Crimea, Ukraine
- Sozopol ("Salvaged city"), Bulgaria
The names of other cities were also given the suffix "-polis
" after antiquity, either referring to ancient names or simply unrelated:
',
Ohio, United States of America
