polis

Playwrights addressed the polis not by dramatizing current events but by recasting tales from the mythological and historic past to sharpen critical thinking on contemporary concerns.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2025

They were woven into the fabric of a democratic polis.

From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2025

Now protected by their own walls, and in possession of all the civic tools needed to form their own polis, the Helots were liberated from Spartan tyranny at long last.

From Slate ● Jan. 16, 2024

The English word “political” derives from “polis” — the polis was the center of Greek politics in each city-state, and Greek innovations in the realm of political theory would have an enormous historical legacy.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2019

I am not caught by polis or dogs, not this time, but by this man who has tricked me.

From "Beast Rider" by Tony Johnston & María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads

Soon, Athens moved from simply extracting money to actually imposing political control in other poleis.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020

Wars were temporarily suspended and all Greek poleis agreed to let athletes travel with safe passage to take part in the games, in part because the Olympics were dedicated to Zeus, the chief Greek god.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020

The poleis also invented institutions that united the cities culturally, despite their political independence, the most important of which was the Panhellenic games.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020

Thus, between 405 BCE — 338 BCE, the old order of the hoplites and republics atrophied, replaced by oligarchic councils or tyrants in the poleis and stronger, tax-supported states.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2019

The Hellenic municipalities were developments from the poleis, or city-states, which existed prior to the Roman conquest in Greece and the Hellenized areas of Asia and Africa.

From A History of Rome to 565 A. D. by Arthur Edward Romilly Boak