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What is a polis and how did poleis shape the Greek world?

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A polis was a city-state - a population group with an area of agricultural land, fresh water, often a port, and a fortified hill (acropolis), around which a city grew up. Each city was independent, and often at odds with its neighbours. Each developed its own form of government, developed cultural activities, and often sent surplus population to form new polis in other parts of the Mediterranean and Black Seas.

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Q: What is a polis and how did poleis shape the Greek world?
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What did Greeks call their villages?

The Greek word polis (plural poleis) meant a city-state, but more specifically the group of people who formed a single political entity.


The greek world a polis was an?

a city and the agricultural lands surrounding it


How do you use polis in a sentence?

The Greek term "polis", meaning "city", may be utilized diversely in a sentence, usually most properly in italics or with (single or double) quotation marks to denote its foreign origin. Thus, one example sentence would be as follows: "In the ancient world, the 'polis' served as the basic political unit for Greek civilizations."


In comparison with the world of the polis Hellenistic civilization was?

in comparison with the world of the polis, Hellenistic civilization was


What is a Greek polis?

It was an important part of greek life because it had the art and practices of the government. Polis gave rise to the term politics and it was the framework of Greek Life. Each city-state had a different kind of government.


What is a polis?

The early greek city-state, consisting of a city or town and its surrounding territory. Polis is described as city in Greek. Also known in Ancient Greek as city-state, it could also mean citizenship and body of citizens. You had to be born in to citizenship by naturalization otherwise you could be shut out of democracy. This being a new concept of the ancient world which demonstrates culture might be universal to the greeks.


What are the main features of the polis?

A polis is a Greek city-state. Instead of having a united country, the Greeks were divided into large, independent cities with their own governments and people. Some of the more famous poleis are Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes, and Argos. Poleis were originally ruled by heredity kings. As these kings became unpopular, they were often overthrown by tyrants. Although usurpers to the throne that were considered illegitimate, they were often very popular because they ended the corrupt monarchies. After tyrannies, other forms of government, like democracies and oligarchies formed. The average polis was usually built around a hill. At the top of the hill was the acropolis, a heavily-protected fort that doubled as a temple to the local patron god. A polis also often featured an agora, or public market. The agora served both economic and political needs, where both goods and ideas were exchanged. Outside of the city walls was an area called the chora. The chora included poor housing and farmlands, areas that could be abandoned in case of an invasion. As a root word, Polis finds many meanings. It is the root of police, politics, metropolis, and policy. It can be found in many cities in the Old World, such as Heliopolis (Egypt) and Persepolis (Iran), but also several modern cities: Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Annapolis feature the same root word.


What are the features of a polis?

A polis is a Greek city-state. Instead of having a united country, the Greeks were divided into large, independent cities with their own governments and people. Some of the more famous poleis are Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes, and Argos. Poleis were originally ruled by heredity kings. As these kings became unpopular, they were often overthrown by tyrants. Although usurpers to the throne that were considered illegitimate, they were often very popular because they ended the corrupt monarchies. After tyrannies, other forms of government, like democracies and oligarchies formed. The average polis was usually built around a hill. At the top of the hill was the acropolis, a heavily-protected fort that doubled as a temple to the local patron god. A polis also often featured an agora, or public market. The agora served both economic and political needs, where both goods and ideas were exchanged. Outside of the city walls was an area called the chora. The chora included poor housing and farmlands, areas that could be abandoned in case of an invasion. As a root word, Polis finds many meanings. It is the root of police, politics, metropolis, and policy. It can be found in many cities in the Old World, such as Heliopolis (Egypt) and Persepolis (Iran), but also several modern cities: Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Annapolis feature the same root word.


What are the main features of a polis?

A polis is a Greek city-state. Instead of having a united country, the Greeks were divided into large, independent cities with their own governments and people. Some of the more famous poleis are Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes, and Argos. Poleis were originally ruled by heredity kings. As these kings became unpopular, they were often overthrown by tyrants. Although usurpers to the throne that were considered illegitimate, they were often very popular because they ended the corrupt monarchies. After tyrannies, other forms of government, like democracies and oligarchies formed. The average polis was usually built around a hill. At the top of the hill was the acropolis, a heavily-protected fort that doubled as a temple to the local patron god. A polis also often featured an agora, or public market. The agora served both economic and political needs, where both goods and ideas were exchanged. Outside of the city walls was an area called the chora. The chora included poor housing and farmlands, areas that could be abandoned in case of an invasion. As a root word, Polis finds many meanings. It is the root of police, politics, metropolis, and policy. It can be found in many cities in the Old World, such as Heliopolis (Egypt) and Persepolis (Iran), but also several modern cities: Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Annapolis feature the same root word.


What does the root polis have anything to do with polite?

It means to set an example to others about being polite. because it originally means kind and nice but the root polis-city comes into polite because being kind and nice should set something for the whole world (city).


Why is the world made from matter?

Because that is what gives us our shape and the world its shape


What is the significance of the Greek polis city-state and why was it significant?

A very brief introduction to the polis:"The single greatest political innovation of the ancient Greeks was the establishment of the polis, or "city-state.The age of the city-state in Greece is an age of dynamic and continual experimentation with political structures; this period of experimentation gave the European world most of its available political structures."-Richard Hooker, WSU, 1996http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/POLIS.HTMPretty much the significance of the polis was that it resulted in political innovation, and eventually lead to the development of political structures such as oligarchy, timocracy, tyranny, and democracy.The Greeks also were the first to develop models based on gynocratic (ruled by women) as well as communistic societies, as can be seen in Aristophanes' play Ecclesiazusae and Lysistrata. Plato also developed a communistic model in The Republic.