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The basic unit of Greek civilization was the polis, or city-state, a small country centered on a market and acropolis with a citizenship who usually felt a sense of ethnic kinship in a remote, mythological past. Hundreds of these filled Greece, and others called apoikia (colonies) were founded around the Mediterranean, especially in southern Italy and Asia Minor, but also in North Africa, Italy, and Sicily. Usually a polis was ruled by an oligarchy, but the oligarchy never had the divine power of contemporary eastern rulers, in part because the commoners played a larger role in the economy and defense (as hoplites) of the state. Towards the seventh century a number of tyrannies were also established, meaning they were ruled by a tyrant, a usurper supported by popular opinion against the oligarchy. |
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The basic unit of Greek civilization was the polis, or city-state, a small country centered on a market and acropolis with a citizenship who usually felt a sense of ethnic kinship in a remote, mythological past. Hundreds of these filled Greece, and others called apoikia (colonies) were founded around the Mediterranean, especially in southern Italy and Asia Minor, but also in North Africa, Italy, and Sicily. Usually a polis was ruled by an oligarchy, but the oligarchy never had the divine power of contemporary eastern rulers, in part because the commoners played a larger role in the economy and defense (as hoplites) of the state. Towards the seventh century a number of tyrannies were also established, meaning they were ruled by a tyrant, a usurper supported by popular opinion against the oligarchy (see Pisistratus). |
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