Greek city-states began to develop in the eighth century b. c.e. as expansions of the old villages and towns of the Mycenean era and the Dark Age. A typical city-state had an urban core, then spread out around that to include as much of the surrounding farmland as the city-state could control. Chances were they eventually bumped up against the outer boundaries of another city-state.
Welcome to the Polls
The Greek word for a city-state is polls, which is where we get our words politics and metropolis, and modern city names such as Minneapolis and Indianapolis. Pol is used as a suffix for foreign cities too, such as Sebastopol in Russia. Polls is also the source of such words as police and polity, which means a political organization.
Emerging from the Dark Age, the city-states’ kings gave way to councils of rulers from the cities’ wealthier families, a form of government called oligarchy that was unusual among the ancient civilizations. Sparta was a major exception, and had two kings.
Athens was among the oldest of the poleis, the plural of the Greek word for city-state. It is thought that sometime in the 700s B. C.E. several villages combined to form Athens, which is a few miles from a good port, Piraeus. Originally Athens was confined to a high, flat hilltop for defensive purposes. But, like other city-states, as the population grew so did the city. Athens spread out around its hilltop, or Acropolis, which became the location for its religious buildings.
An important trade center, Athens came to control Attica, a narrow peninsula (50 miles across at the widest point) north of the Peloponnese Peninsula. Attica, with Athens as its urban core, is geographically situated for success. To its north are protective mountains, and its other sides are bounded by water (except for a sliver of land at Corinth). Because it was close to the sea, it became a not just a major trade center but a starting and receiving point for new ideas and cultural exchanges, as well.
Other significant city-states to emerge included Corinth, which was the commercial center of Greece in the 600s b. c.e. Corinth had two good ports, and its fine pottery was much demand around the Mediterranean. Thebes became a large city-state in the lush farmlands of Boeotia, the region north of Attica. Inland Sparta conquered the lower half of the Pelo-ponnese Peninsula and was also a city-state to reckon with.
While one can talk generally of many Greek city-states that, depending on their size, shared a number of common traits, Sparta stood apart in its form of government and its social structure. Many of its customs and practices seem shocking now, but in its day it was a powerhouse that inspired not only fear but also admiration because of its devotion to discipline.
Sparta was formed when a few smaller villages combined to make a city-state. In two long wars during the eighth and seventh centuries B. C.E., ending in 630 B. C.E., this new city-state conquered and enslaved the people of a large area of the southern Peloponnese called Messenia. The Spartans were then outnumbered by their former neighbors-turned-serfs, known as helots, who always looked for opportunities to revolt. In response, Sparta became a strictly military society, primarily to keep watch over the large helot population.
World History
