The Greek polis: what was a city-state?

The Greek word πόλις (polis) means “city”. But a Greek polis was more than a town. It was a small, independent state. It had a town in the middle, often with walls, and the fields and villages around it. The Greeks called this farmland the χώρα (chora).

Each polis made its own laws, chose its own leaders, had its own army and often made its own coins. Each one also had a favourite god or goddess who protected it. Athens had Athena, for example. Sometimes two poleis were friends, and sometimes they went to war against each other.

How many were there? Historians at the Copenhagen Polis Centre made a list of all the places that were, or probably were, a polis between about 650 and 325 BC. They counted 1,035. Most were small. Athens and Sparta were much bigger than most. All these Greeks spoke the same language and prayed to the same gods, but they did not live in one country.

Many poleis were built around a high rock or hill. The Greeks called it the ἀκρόπολις (acropolis), which means “the top of the city”. In times of danger, people could run up there to be safe. On top stood the ναός, the temple of the city's god. On the Acropolis of Athens, people began to worship Athena in the 8th century BC. In the 5th century BC the Athenians built the Parthenon there for her.

Below the rock was the ἀγορά (agora), a big open square. It was the heart of daily life. Farmers and craftsmen sold food, pots and shoes there. Citizens met to talk about the news. Around the agora of Athens stood the council house, offices and law courts.

Many towns had a strong stone wall, the τεῖχος, around them. Outside the walls were the farms of the chora, with olive trees, vines and wheat.

A πολίτης (polites) was a citizen: a member of the polis. But not everyone who lived in a polis was a citizen. In most Greek cities, only free adult men from citizen families had full rights. Women, children, slaves and foreigners who lived in the city were not full citizens.

Citizens had rights and duties. They could take part in meetings, help to make the laws, the νόμοι, and sit as judges in the courts. They also had to defend the city. When there was a war, citizens put on their armour and fought side by side.

Every polis chose its own way of being ruled. In some, a king or a few rich families held power. In Athens, the citizens themselves met in the assembly and voted on the big decisions. This was democracy. The philosopher Aristotle wrote that a human being is by nature a “political animal”, a creature made to live in a polis.

The polis disappeared long ago, but its words did not. Listen to them in Modern Greek:

• πόλη (poli) is still the normal word for “city”. Many Greeks call Istanbul simply η Πόλη, “the City”, from its old name Κωνσταντινούπολη, “the city of Constantine”.
• πολίτης still means “citizen”.
• αγορά today means “market” or “shopping”. A Greek going to the shops says «πάω στην αγορά».
• Ακρόπολη is the name of the famous rock in Athens, and it also names other high citadels.

Many other languages use the polis too. English “politics” and “police” and French “politique” all come from words built on πόλις. When a Greek pupil learns about the ancient city-state, he or she hears words used every day in the street.