Author Description
From antiquity until the nineteenth century, there have been two types of state: macro-states, each dotted with a number of cities, and regions broken up into city-states, each consisting of an urban centre and its hinterland. A region settled with interacting city-states constituted a city-state culture and Polis opens with a description of the concepts of city, state, city-state, and city-state culture, and a survey of the 37 city-state cultures so far identified. Mogens Herman Hansen provides a thoroughly accessible introduction to the polis (plural: poleis), or ancient Greek city-state, which represents by far the largest of all city-state cultures. He addresses such topics as the emergence of the polis, its size and population, and its political organization, ranging from famous poleis such as Athens and Sparta through more than 1,000 known examples.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates the structural definition and historical evolution of the ancient Greek city-state, or polis, as a distinct political and social entity. Mogens Herman Hansen, a prominent scholar of classical antiquity, utilizes a comparative framework to analyze the polis within the broader context of global city-state cultures. He argues that the Greek model represents the most significant historical example of a city-state culture, providing a systematic examination of its emergence, demographic scale, and administrative diversity.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- A comparative survey of 37 identified city-state cultures throughout history.
- Definitions of core concepts including city, state, and hinterland.
- Analysis of political organization across more than 1,000 known poleis.
Scope Limits
- The text focuses primarily on the structural and political aspects of the polis rather than detailed military or biographical narratives.
- It does not provide an exhaustive history of every individual city-state, but rather uses them as data points for the broader model.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars and students frequently cite this work as a foundational, accessible introduction to the complexities of Greek political organization. Experts highlight the author's ability to synthesize vast amounts of historical data into a coherent and manageable framework for both academic and general readers.
Page Count:
248
Publication Date:
2006-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press, U.S.A.
ISBN-10:
0191526037
ISBN-13:
9780191526039
History
Ancient History
Cities And Towns
Ancient Greece
Sociology