Greek City-States
A polis was any Ancient Greek city-state. The ancient word polis had socio-political connotations not possessed by modern usage. For example, Modern Greek πόλη, "city", is located within a χώρα, "country", which is a πατρίδα or "native land" for its citizens. In ancient Greece, the polis was the native land; there was no other. It had a constitution and demanded the supreme loyalty of its citizens. Χώρα was only the countryside, not a country. Ancient Greece was not a sovereign country; rather, it was territory occupied by Hellenic people, those who claimed as their native language some dialect of Ancient Greek.
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Events on its territory
- 776 BC First Olympic Games
- c. 750 BC Homer's epics
- 594 BC Reforms of Solon
- c. 530 BC Pythagoras founds his school at Croton
- 508 BC Cleisthenes' reforms and the birth of democracy
- 490 BC Battle of Marathon
- 480 BC Battle of Thermopylae