Information About ™Polis |
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| suffixes | |
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| ancient greek cities | |
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A 'polis' (πολις) — plural: ''poleis'' ('''πολεις''') — is a City , or a City-state . The word originates from the Ancient Greek City-state s, which developed during the Archaic period, the ancestor of both modern city and state, and persisted (though with decreasing influence) well into Roman times, when the equivalent Latin word was ''civitas'', also meaning 'citizenhood', whili municium applied to a non-sovereign local entity. HISTORY The bounds of the ancient ''polis'' often centred around a Citadel , called the '' Acropolis '', and would of necessity also have an '' Agora '' (market) and typically one or more temples and a '' Gymnasium ''. Note that 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. Each city was composed of several Tribe s or '' Deme s'', which were in turn composed of '' Phratries '' and finally '' Gentes ''. '' Metic s'' (resident foreigners) and Slave s lay outside this organization. Birth typically determined Citizen ship. Each ''polis'' would also worship a number of patron God s for protection and kept its own particular Festival s and customs. In the East beyond Asia Minor a major instrument of Hellenization by Alexander the Great was the polis. He is said to have founded no less than seventy cities, destined to become centres of Greek influence; and the great majority of these were in lands in which city-life was almost unknown. In this respect his example was emulated by his successors, the Diadochi . 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 .''' A number of words end in the word "-polis". Most refer to a special kind of city and/or state. Some examples are:
Other refer to part of a city or a group of cities, such as:
Names In Cyprus there is a town called Polis on the northern coast of the Republic of Cyprus. Names of a number of places contain the suffix "-polis" (sometimes modernized, e.g. "-pol") since Antiquity:
Such names were also given later, either referring to older ones or unrelated:
And an enterprise:
SOURCES (incomplete) SEE ALSO |
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