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  1. polis

    noun

    1. A city-state of ancient Greece.
    2. The police.
    3. A policeman or policewoman.

    noun

    1. A city-state of ancient Greece.
    2. The police.
    3. A policeman or policewoman.
    4. A city, or a city-state.
    The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition • More at Wordnik
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  2. britannica.com

    Polis was the term for the small, self-governing states of ancient Greece, centred on a town and its territory. Learn about the origins, forms, and characteristics of the polis, as well as its role in Greek history and culture.
    Author:The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. oxfordre.com

    Polis is the Greek term for city-state, a form of urban life with political autonomy, social homogeneity, and respect for law. Learn about the origins, features, and contrasts of the polis in ancient Greece from the Oxford Classical Dictionary article.
  4. press.princeton.edu

    Jun 4, 2024John Ma offers a panoramic account of the polis, a political institution founded on citizenship, freedom, and equality, from the early Iron Age to the end of antiquity. He explores its achievements, challenges, and legacy in a millennium of diverse communities across the Mediterranean world.

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    Polis

    Ancient Greek social and political organisation

    Polis means 'city' in Ancient Greek. The ancient word polis had socio-political connotations not possessed by modern usage. For example, today's πόλη is located within a χώρα, "country", which is a πατρίδα or "native land" for its citizens. In ancient Greece, the polis was the native land; there was no other. It had a constitution and demanded the supreme loyalty of its citizens. χώρα was only the countryside, not a country. Ancient Greece was not a sovereign country, but was a territory occupied by Hellenes, people who claimed as their native language some dialect of Ancient Greek. Poleis did not only exist within the area of the modern Republic of Greece. A collaborative study carried by the Copenhagen Polis Centre from 1993 to 2003 classified about 1,500 settlements of the Archaic and Classical ancient-Greek-speaking population as poleis. Wikipedia

    TypeRepublic, or commonwealth. The ultimate authority was considered to reside in the citizenry, the demos, despite the broad variation in the form of the administration.
    BodyThe assembly, or ekklesia, although in the more autocratic forms of administration, it met rarely. Magistrates performed the day-to-day governing, called archons.
    Population (400 BC)7,500,000+
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