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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-states, which developed during the Archaic period and survived (though with decreasing influence) well into Roman times.
The bounds of the ancient polis centred around a citadel, called the acropolis, and would of necessity also have an agora (market) 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 tribes or demes, which were in turn composed of phratries and finally gentes. Metics (resident foreigners) and slaves lay outside this organization. Birth typically determined citizenship. Each polis would also worship a number of patron gods for protection and kept its own particular festivals and customs.
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 have a suffix "-polis". Usually they refer to a special kind of city. Some examples are:
Names
In Cyprus there is a town called Polis on the northern coast of the Republic of Cyprus.
Names of a number of places and enterprises contain the suffix "-polis" or "-pol":
- Acropolis, Athens, Greece
- Anápolis, Brazil
- Annapolis, MD
- Biopolis - a biological research center in Singapore.
- Constantinople (Constantinopolis), now known as Istanbul (from stin Poli)
- Decapolis
- Heliopolis
- Indianapolis, IN
- Megalopolis, Greece
- Micropolis Corporation - a defunct computer hard drive manufacturer.
- Minneapolis, MN
- Motherwell - nicknamed Steelopolis
- Neapoli - common city name in ancient Greece and Rome including the modern cities of Nablus and Naples. The adjective Neapolitan is often used to describe things that have their origin in Naples.
- Persepolis
- Sebastopol, CA
- Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine
- Seuthopolis, a ruined Thracian city now in Bulgaria
- Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine
- Sophia-Antipolis, a technology park in France
- Tiraspol, Moldova
- Tripoli, Libya
See also
