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A polis (p????, pronunciation [pól.is], ['p?l.?s] in English) -- plural: poleis (p??e??, pronunciation [pól.e?s], ['p?l.e?z] in English) -- is a city
City

A city is an urban area with a high population density and a particular administrative, legal, or historical status.Large industrialized cities generally have advanced systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, house, and transportation and more....
, a city-state
City-state

A city-state is an independent country whose territory consists solely of a single major city and the area immediately surrounding it. Examples include the city-states of ancient Greece , the Phoenician cities of Canaan , the Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia , the Mayans of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica , the central Asian cities along the Silk Roa...
 and also citizenship
Citizenship

Citizenship refers to a person's membership in a political community such as a country or city. It has different legal definitions in different countries....
 and body of citizens. When used to describe Classical Athens
Classical Athens

The city of Athens during classical antiquity was a notable polis of Attica, Ancient Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League....
 and its contemporaries, polis is often translated as "city-state."

The word originates from the ancient Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 city-state
City-state

A city-state is an independent country whose territory consists solely of a single major city and the area immediately surrounding it. Examples include the city-states of ancient Greece , the Phoenician cities of Canaan , the Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia , the Mayans of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica , the central Asian cities along the Silk Roa...
s, which developed during the Archaic
Archaic period in Greece

The archaic period in Greece is a period of Ancient Greece history. The term originated in the 18th century and has been standard since. This term arose from the study of Greek art, where it refers to styles mainly of Decorative art and Plastic arts, falling in time between Geometric Art and the art of Classical Greece....
 period, the ancestor of city, state and citizenship, and persisted (though with decreasing influence) well into Roman
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 times, when the equivalent Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 word was civitas, also meaning 'citizenhood', while municipium applied to a non-sovereign local entity.






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A polis (p????, pronunciation [pól.is], ['p?l.?s] in English) -- plural: poleis (p??e??, pronunciation [pól.e?s], ['p?l.e?z] in English) -- is a city
City

A city is an urban area with a high population density and a particular administrative, legal, or historical status.Large industrialized cities generally have advanced systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, house, and transportation and more....
, a city-state
City-state

A city-state is an independent country whose territory consists solely of a single major city and the area immediately surrounding it. Examples include the city-states of ancient Greece , the Phoenician cities of Canaan , the Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia , the Mayans of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica , the central Asian cities along the Silk Roa...
 and also citizenship
Citizenship

Citizenship refers to a person's membership in a political community such as a country or city. It has different legal definitions in different countries....
 and body of citizens. When used to describe Classical Athens
Classical Athens

The city of Athens during classical antiquity was a notable polis of Attica, Ancient Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League....
 and its contemporaries, polis is often translated as "city-state."

The word originates from the ancient Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 city-state
City-state

A city-state is an independent country whose territory consists solely of a single major city and the area immediately surrounding it. Examples include the city-states of ancient Greece , the Phoenician cities of Canaan , the Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia , the Mayans of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica , the central Asian cities along the Silk Roa...
s, which developed during the Archaic
Archaic period in Greece

The archaic period in Greece is a period of Ancient Greece history. The term originated in the 18th century and has been standard since. This term arose from the study of Greek art, where it refers to styles mainly of Decorative art and Plastic arts, falling in time between Geometric Art and the art of Classical Greece....
 period, the ancestor of city, state and citizenship, and persisted (though with decreasing influence) well into Roman
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 times, when the equivalent Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 word was civitas, also meaning 'citizenhood', while municipium applied to a non-sovereign local entity. The term city-state which originated in English (alongside the German Stadtstaat) does not fully translate the Greek term. The poleis were not like other primordial ancient city-states like Tyre or Sidon
Sidon

Sidon,or Sa?da, is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, Lebanon of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea coast, about 40 km north of Tyre, Lebanon and 40 km south of the capital Beirut....
, which were ruled by a king or a small oligarchy, but rather a political entity ruled by its body of citizens. The traditional view of archaeologists, that the appearance of urbanization
Urbanization

Urbanization is the physical growth of rural or natural land into urban areas as a result of population im-migration to an existing urban area....
 at excavation sites could be read as a sufficient index for the development of a polis was criticised by François Polignac in 1984 and has not been taken for granted in recent decades: the polis of Sparta for example was established in a network of villages.The term polis which in archaic Greece meant city, changed with the development of the governance center in the city to indicate state (which included its surrounding villages), and finally with the emergence of a citizenship notion between the land owners it came to describe the entire body of citizens. The ancient Greeks didn't refer to Athens
Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
, Sparta
Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
, Thebes
Thebes, Greece

Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, Greece, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain....
 and other poleis as such; they rather spoke of the Athenians, Lacedaemonians, Thebans and so on. The body of citizens came to be the most important meaning of the term polis in ancient Greece.

The Ancient Greek
Ancient greek language

#REDIRECT Ancient Greek...
 term which specifically meant the totality of urban buildings and spaces was ?st? ([ásty] in IPA), asty.

History


The bounds of the ancient polis often centered around a citadel
Citadel

A citadel is a Fortification for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin language root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
, called the acropolis
Acropolis

Acropolis literally means city on the edge . For purposes of defense, early settlers naturally chose elevated ground, frequently a hill with precipitous sides....
, and would of necessity also have an agora
Agora

The Agora was an open "place of assembly" in ancient Ancient Greece city-states. Early in Greek history , free-born male land-owners who were citizens would gather in the agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council....
 (market) and typically one or more temples and a gymnasium
Gymnasium (ancient Greece)

The gymnasium in ancient Greece functioned as a training facility for competitors in public games. It was also a place for socializing and engaging in intellectual pursuits....
. Note that many of a polis citizens would have lived in the suburbs or countryside. The Greeks did not regard the polis as a territorial grouping so much as a religious and political association: while the polis would control territory and colonies beyond the city itself, the polis would not simply consist of a geographical area.

Each city was composed of several tribe
Tribe

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups ....
s or deme
Deme

In Ancient Greece, a deme was a subdivision of Attica, the region of Greece surrounding Classical Athens. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, but did not acquire particular significance until the reforms of Cleisthenes in 508 BC....
s, which were in turn composed of phratries
Phratry

A phratry was an anthropological term for a kinship division consisting of two or more distinct clans which are considered a single unit, but which retain separate identities within the phratry....
, and finally gentes
Gens

In ancient Rome, a gens was a clan, caste, or group of families, that shared a common name and a belief in a common ancestor. In the Roman naming convention, the second name was the name of the gens to which the person belonged....
. Metic
Metic

In ancient Greece, the term metic meant resident alien, a person who did not have citizen rights in their Greek city-state of residence.Metic comes from the Greek language ??t?????, metoikos, where the second element is derived from ?????, oikos, "house; inhabit." The preceding element meta could here either carry the notio...
s (resident foreigners) and slave
Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
s lay outside this organization. Birth typically determined citizenship. Each polis would also worship a number of patron deities for protection and kept its own particular festival
Festival

A festival is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on some unique aspect of that community.Among many religions, a feast or festival is a set of celebrations in honour of God or Polytheism....
s and customs.

In the East beyond Asia Minor a major instrument of hellenization
Hellenization

Hellenization is a term used to describe the spread of Greek culture. It is mainly used to describe the spread of Hellenistic civilization during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon....
 by Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
 was the polis. He is said to have founded no fewer than seventy cities, destined to become centers of Greek influence; and the great majority of these were in lands in which city-life was almost unknown. In this respect his example was emulated by his successors, the diadochi
Diadochi

The Diadochi were the rival successors of Alexander the Great, and their Wars of the Diadochi followed Alexander's death. This was the beginning of the Hellenistic period of Greek history, the time when many people who were not Greek themselves adopted Greek philosophy and styles, Greek urban life, and aspects of the Greek religion....
.

Polis was frequently divided into three types of inhabitants. The first, and highest, “group” of inhabitants are citizens with political rights. Then there are the citizens without political rights. Lastly there are the non-citizens.

Derived words

Derivatives of polis are common in many modern Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
an languages. This is indicative of the influence of the polis-centred Hellenic world view. Derivative words in English include policy
Policy

A policy is typically described as a deliberate plan of action to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. However, the term may also be used to denote what is actually done, even though it is unplanned....
, polity
Polity

Polity was originally a term used by Aristotle to describe a political system that is a combination of an aristocracy and a democracy. Aristotle theorized that the problems of democracy such as rule of the ignorant masses would be kept in check by the wealthy....
, police
Police

Police are agents or agencies, usually of the executive , empowered to enforce the law and to ensure public and social order through the legitimized use of force....
 and politics
Politics

Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behaviour within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporation, academia, and religion institutions....
. In Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
, words deriving from polis include polites and politismos, whose exact equivalents in Latin, Romance
Romance languages

The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages comprising all the languages that descend from Latin language, the language of ancient Rome....
 and other European languages, respectively civis (citizen), civilisatio (civilization) etc are similarly derived.

A number of words end in the word "-polis". Most refer to a special kind of city and/or state. Some examples are:
  • Astropolis
    Astropolis

    An Astropolis can be any of several things in different contexts. These include:* An idealised future civilisation, as in Eugene Jolas' Succession in Astropolis....
     — star-scaled city/industry area; complex space station; a European star-related festival.
  • Cosmopolis
    Cosmópolis

    Cosm?polis is a municipality in the state of S?o Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2004 is 48,628 and the area is 155.16 km?. The elevation is 652 m....
     — a large urban centre with a population of many different cultural backgrounds; a novel written by Don DeLillo
    Don DeLillo

    Don DeLillo is an United Statesmerican author whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries....
    .
  • Ecumenopolis
    Ecumenopolis

    Ecumenopolis is a word invented in 1967 by the Greece city planner Constantinos Doxiadis to represent the idea that in the future urban areas and Megalopolis would eventually fuse and there would be a single continuous worldwide city as a progression from the current urbanization and population growth trends....
     — a city that covers an entire planet
    Planet

    A planet , as 2006 definition of planet by the International Astronomical Union , is a celestial body orbiting a star or Stellar evolution#Stellar remnants that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared the neighbourhood of planetesimals....
    , usually seen in science fiction
    Science fiction

    Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media....
  • Megapolis, built by merging several cities and their suburbs.
  • Metropolis
    Metropolis

    A metropolis , also referred to as a metropolitan, is a big city, in most cases with over half a million inhabitants in the city proper, and with a population of at least one million living in its Agglomeration....
     can refer to the mother city of a colony, the see of a metropolitan archbishop or a Metropolitan area
    Metropolitan area

    A metropolitan area is a large population center consisting of a large metropolis and its adjacent zone of influence, or of more than one closely adjoining neighboring central city and their zone of influence....
     — a major urban population centre.
  • Necropolis
    Necropolis

    A necropolis is a large cemetery or burial place . Apart from the occasional application of the word to modern cemeteries outside large towns, the term...
     'city of the dead' — a graveyard
    Graveyard

    A graveyard is any place set aside for long-term burial of the dead, with or without monuments such as headstones. It is usually located near and administered by a Church ....
    .
  • Technopolis
    Technopolis

    Technopolis can refer to:*Technopolis or Technology Park are synonyms for science park.*Technopolis Innovation Park Delft, a science park in Delft, the Netherlands....
     — city with high-tech industry; room full of computers; the Internet
    Internet

    The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels. Typically, a computer that connects to the Internet can access information from a vast array of available server and other computers by moving information from them to the computer's local memory....
    .


Other refer to part of a city or a group of cities, such as:
  • Acropolis
    Acropolis

    Acropolis literally means city on the edge . For purposes of defense, early settlers naturally chose elevated ground, frequently a hill with precipitous sides....
    , 'high city' — upper part of a polis, often citadel and/or site of major temple(s).
  • Decapolis
    Decapolis

    The Decapolis was a group of ten cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in Jordan, Israel, and Syria. The ten cities were not an official league or political unit, but they were grouped together because of their language, culture, location, and political status....
    , a group of ten cities
  • Dodecapolis, a group of twelve cities
  • Pentapolis
    Pentapolis

    A pentapolis, from the Ancient Greek words penta 'five' and polis 'city' is geographic and/or institutional grouping of five cities....
    , a group of five cities
  • Tripolis, a group of three cities, retained in the names of a Tripoli
    Tripoli

    Tripoli is the largest and Capital city of Libya.Tripoli has a population of 1.69 million. The city is located in the northwest of the country on the edge of the desert, on a point of rocky land projecting into the Mediterranean Sea and forming a bay....
     in Libya
    Libya

    Libya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa. Bordering the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Libya lies between Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
     and a namesake in Lebanon


Names


Polis, Cyprus
Located on the north-west coast of Cyprus
Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is an island country situated in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, west of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, south of Turkey and north of Egypt....
 is the town of Polis
Polis, Cyprus

Polis is a small town at the north-west end of the island of Cyprus, at the centre of Chrysochous Bay, and on the edge of the Akamas peninsula nature reserve....
, or Polis Chrysochous , situated within the Paphos District
Paphos District

Paphos District is one of the six districts of Cyprus and it is situated in the western part of Cyprus. Its main town and Capital is Paphos. The entire district is controlled by the internationally recognized government of Cyprus....
 and on the edge of the Akamas peninsula
Akamas

Akamas , is a promontory and cape at the northwest extremity of Cyprus with an area of 230 square kilometres. Ptolemy described it as a thickly wooded headland, divided into two by summits [a mountain range] rising towards the north.....
. During the Cypro-Classical period, Polis became one of the most important ancient Cypriot city-kingdoms on the island, with important commercial relations with the eastern Aegean Islands
Aegean Islands

The Aegean Islands are a group of islands in the Aegean Sea, with mainland Greece to the west and north and Turkey to the east; the island of Crete delimits the sea to the south....
, Attica
Attica

Attica is a Peripheries of Greece in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Greece of Athens Prefecture, Piraeus Prefecture, East Attica and West Attica....
 and Corinth
Corinth

Corinth, or Korinth Corinth is now the capital of the Prefectures of Greece of Corinthia. The city is surrounded by the coastal townlets of Lechaio, Isthmia, Kechries, and the inland townlets of Examilia and the archaeological site....
. The town is also well known due to its mythological
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
 history, including the site of the "Baths of Aphrodite
Aphrodite

Aphrodite is the classical Greek mythology goddess of love, sex, and beauty. According to Greek oral poet Hesiod, she was born when Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus....
".

Other cities
The names of several other towns and cities in Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 and the Middle East
Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
 have contained the suffix "-polis" since antiquity; or currently feature modernized spellings, such as "-pol". Notable examples include:

  • Acropolis, Athens
    Athens

    Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
    , Greece
    Greece

    Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
  • Adrianopolis or Adrianople, present-day Edirne
    Edirne

    Edirne is a city in Thrace, the westernmost part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. It is the capital of Edirne Province and its estimated population in 2002 was 128,400, up from 119,298 in 2000....
    , Turkey
    Turkey

    Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
  • Alexandropol, the former name for Gyumri
    Gyumri

    Gyumri is the capital and largest city of the Shirak Province in northwest Armenia. It is located about 75 miles from the capital Yerevan, and, with a population of 168,918 ...
    , Armenia
    Armenia

    Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in South Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea....
  • Antipolis
    Antipolis

    Antipolis, Greek for 'city opposite' , is the name or part of the name of:*modern Antibes*Sophia-AntipolisIt is also the name of a tanker ship....
    , the former name for Antibes
    Antibes

    Antibes is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France in southeastern France, on the Mediterranean Sea in the French Riviera, located between Cannes and Nice....
    , France
    France

    France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
  • Constantinopolis or Constantinople, the former name for Istanbul
    Istanbul

    Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population, and List of cities proper by population in the world with a population of 12.6 million....
    , Turkey


  • Heliopolis
    Heliopolis (ancient)

    Heliopolis , meaning sun-city, was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt, and capital of the 13th Lower Egyptian Nome . Its name also refers to an unrelated Heliopolis of Cairo, also known as ??? ???????, Masr al-gidedah ....
    , Egypt
    Egypt

    Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
  • Heracleopolis
    Herakleopolis Magna

    Herakleopolis Magna is the Greek language name of the capital of the Twentieth nome of ancient Egypt. It was called Henen-nesut, Nen-nesu, or Hwt-nen-nesu in Egyptian language, meaning 'house of the royal child.' Later, it was called Hnas in Coptic language, and Ahnas in medieval Arabic language writings....
    , Egypt
  • Hermopolis
    Hermopolis (disambiguation)

    Hermopolis may refer to:*Hermopolis , the capital of the 15th nome of Upper Egypt*Hermopolis , the capital of the 15th nome of Lower Egypt*Hermopolis Parva, a large city of the 7th nome of Lower Egypt...
    , several cities in Egypt and on Siros Island
  • Megalopolis
    Megalopolis, Greece

    Ancient Megalopolis, or now Megal?poli is a town in the western part of the prefecture of Arcadia. "Megalopolis" is a Greek word for Great city....
    , Greece
  • Neapoli, several including the modern cities of Nablus
    Nablus

    Nablus is a Palestinian people city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 134,000. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center....
     and Naples
    Naples

    Naples is a city in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old....
     , and the adjective Neapolitan
    Neapolitan

    Neapolitan may refer to:* Neapolitan--of, or pertaining to the city of Naples, Italy and sometimes its wider Duchy of Naples or Province of Naples* Neapolitan language, a language of Naples and environs in southern Italy...
  • Nicopolis
    Emmaus Nicopolis

    Emmaus Nicopolis was the Roman name for a city associated with the Emmaus of the New Testament, where Jesus is said to have appeared after his death and resurrection....
    , Emmaus
    Emmaus Nicopolis

    Emmaus Nicopolis was the Roman name for a city associated with the Emmaus of the New Testament, where Jesus is said to have appeared after his death and resurrection....
     in Palestine
  • Persepolis
    Persepolis

    Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire during the Achaemenid dynasty. Persepolis is situated northeast of the modern city of Shiraz, Iran in the Fars Province of modern Iran....
    , Iran
    Iran

    Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
  • Sevastopol
    Sevastopol

    Sevastopol is a port in Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . The city, formerly the home of the Soviet Union Black Sea Fleet, is now a Ukrainian naval base mutually used by the Ukrainian Navy and Russian Navy....
    , Crimea
    Crimea

    Crimea or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is an autonomous republic of Ukraine located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name....
    , Ukraine
    Ukraine

    Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
  • Seuthopolis
    Seuthopolis

    Seuthopolis was an ancient city founded by the Thracians king Seuthes III, and the capital of the Odrysian kingdom since 320 BC. It was a small city, built on the site of an earlier settlement, and its ruins are now located at the bottom of the Koprinka Reservoir near Kazanlak, Stara Zagora Province, in central Bulgaria....
    , Bulgaria
    Bulgaria

    The state of Bulgaria , Scientific transliteration Balgarija, officially the Republic of Bulgaria has played a significant role in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe for over fourteen centuries....
  • Simferopol
    Simferopol

    Simferopol is the Capital of the Crimea in southern Ukraine. As the capital of Crimea, Simferopol is an important political, economic, and transport center of the peninsula....
    , Crimea, Ukraine
  • Sozopol
    Sozopol

    Sozopol is an ancient town and seaside resort located 15 kilometre south of Burgas on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, in Bulgaria....
    , Bulgaria
  • Tiraspol
    Tiraspol

    Tiraspol is the second largest city in Moldova and is the capital and administrative centre of the de facto independent Transnistria . The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester....
    , Moldova
    Moldova

    Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south....
  • Lithopolis, latin name for Kamnik
    Kamnik

    Kamnik is the name of a municipality in Slovenia as well as the town that serves as its administrative, cultural, economic, and educational center....
    , Slovenia
    Slovenia

    Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north....
The names of other cities were also given the suffix "-polis" after antiquity, either referring to ancient names or simply unrelated:
  • Anápolis
    Anápolis

    An?polis is the third largest city in the State of Goi?s in Brazil. It lies in the center of a rich agricultural region and has become a leader in food processing and pharmaceutical plants....
    , Brazil
    Brazil

    Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
  • Annapolis, Maryland
    Maryland

    Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic States of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia and the Washington, D.C. to the south and west, Pennsylvania to the north, and Delaware to the east....
    , United States of America
  • Biopolis
    Biopolis

    File:Biopolis, Aug 06.JPGBiopolis is an international research and development centre located in Singapore for health sciences. It is located in One-North in Buona Vista, near Dover, Singapore, and is close to the National University of Singapore, the Singapore Polytechnic, the Institute of Technical Education, the National University Hospi...
    , Singapore
    Singapore

    Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country microstate located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometres north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands....
  • Cambysopolis
    Cambysopolis

    Cambysopolis is the non-classical name of a Roman Catholic titular bishopric in the former Roman province of Asia Minor. The name is owing to a mistake of some medieval geographer....
    , Turkey
  • Copperopolis, California
    California

    California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
    , United States of America
  • Indianapolis, Indiana
    Indiana

    The State of Indiana was the 19th U.S. state admitted into the union. It is located in the Midwestern United States of the United States of America....
    , United States of America
  • Kannapolis, North Carolina
    North Carolina

    North Carolina is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north....
    , United States of America
  • Minneapolis, Minnesota
    Minnesota

    Minnesota is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with just over five million residents....
    , United States of America
  • Petrópolis
    Petrópolis

    Petr?polis, also known as The Imperial City of Brazil, is a town in the Rio de Janeiro , about 65 km from the city of Rio de Janeiro.Nestled among the forested hills of the Serra dos ?rg?os, in the valley of the Quitandinha River and Piabanha River rivers, Petr?polis is a popular summer holiday spot....
    , Brazil
  • Sebastopol
    Sebastopol, California

    Sebastopol is a town in Sonoma County, California, California, United States, approximately north of San Francisco. The population was 7,774 at the 2000 census, but its businesses also serve surrounding rural portions of Sonoma County, totaling about 50,000 people....
    , California, United States of America
  • Sophia-Antipolis, France
  • Lithopolis, USA


Further reading

  • Hansen, Mogens Herman
    Mogens Herman Hansen

    Mogens Herman Hansen is a Danish classical philology who is one of the leading scholars in Athenian Democracy and the Polis.He finished his master at University of Copenhagen in 1967....
    .     Polis: An Introduction to the Ancient Greek City-State. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 0-19-920849-2; paperback, ISBN 0-19-920850-6).
The Copenhagen Polis Center (http://www.teachtext.net/bn/cpc/)

  • Mogens Herman Hansen (ed), The Ancient Greek City-State. Symposium on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, July, 1-4 1992. [Acts of the Copenhagen Polis Centre vol. 1], Copenhagen 1993 (Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser 67)


  • Mogens Herman Hansen (ed), Sources for The Ancient Greek City-State. Symposium August, 24-27 1994. Acts of the Copenhagen Polis Centre vol. 2, Copenhagen 1995 (Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk- filosofiske Meddelelser 72)


  • Mogens Herman Hansen (ed), Introduction to an Inventory of Poleis. Symosium August, 23-26 1995. Acts of the Copenhagen Polis Centre vol. 3, Copenhagen 1996 (Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk- filosofiske Meddelelser 74)


  • Mogens Herman Hansen, The Polis as an Urban Centre and as a Political Community. Symposium August, 29-31 1996. Acts of the Copenhagen Polis Centre vol. 4, Copenhagen 1997 (Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk- filosofiske Meddelelser 75)


  • Mogens Herman Hansen (ed), Polis and City-State. An Ancient Concept and its Modern Equivalent. Symposium, January 9, 1998. Acts of the Copenhagen Polis Centre vol. 5, Copenhagen 1998 (Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser 76)


  • Mogens Herman Hansen (ed), The imaginary polis. Symposium, January 7-10, 2004. Acts of the Copenhagen Polis Centre vol. 7, Copenhagen 2005 (Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser 91)


  • Mogens Herman Hansen & Kurt Raaflaub (edd), Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis. Papers from the Copenhagen Polis Centre 2, Stuttgart: Steiner 1995 (Historia Einzelschriften 95)


  • Mogens Herman Hansen & Kurt Raaflaub (edd), More Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis. Papers from the Copenhagen Polis Centre 3, Stuttgart: Steiner 1996 (Historia Einzelschriften 108)


See also

  • apoikia
  • synoecism
    Synoecism

    Synoecism, synoikism or syn?cism is the amalgamation of villages and small towns in Ancient Hellas into larger political units such as a single city....