Skip to main content

Search from vocabulary

Content language

Concept information

Preferred term

polis  

Definition

  • Polis is a Greek word meaning “city-state.” Although the term originally referred to the citadel that overlooked many towns, it was used from the Archaic period (700–500 B.C.E.) onward to refer to the characteristic political community of the Greeks. It was during this period that the Greeks sent out colonies to Ionia on the western coast of Asia Minor and Magna Graecia in present-day southern Italy, including Sicily. [Source: Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World; Polis]

Broader concept

Belongs to group

URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/polis

Download this concept: