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May
31

Why was the polis in ancient greece so important?

admin on May-31-2010

I don’t know much about ancient greece, but why was the polis so important to them? like democracy and stuff?

A polis is a political entity ruled by its body of citizens. The polis in archaic Greece means city, and is important because it came to describe the entire body of citizens. The ancient Greeks didn’t refer to Athens, Sparta, Thebes 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. It is important because it symbolized self-governance under their own selected ruler and king. The political life of the classical era is transformed to an individualized religious and philosophical view of life.

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  1. D S Said,

    Because they reaslised that one person (Emperor, King, dictator etc) can not make good decisions for everyone forever. They thought of a system that gave people a vote to elect a person they find suitable to lead them and a process to limit the time that he is their leader, so that fresh blood can be elected after a while.
    Pretty smart huh?
    References :

  2. Michael Said,

    The polis was simply a large society. It offered defense and safety for it’s inhabitants and encouraged trade. The polis gave organisation to a government and a structural, and functional, hierarchy.
    References :

  3. Roundhouse BITE to the... Said,

    A polis is a political entity ruled by its body of citizens. The polis in archaic Greece means city, and is important because it came to describe the entire body of citizens. The ancient Greeks didn’t refer to Athens, Sparta, Thebes 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. It is important because it symbolized self-governance under their own selected ruler and king. The political life of the classical era is transformed to an individualized religious and philosophical view of life.
    References :

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