The City-States

The Greek terrain, consisting of fertile portions of land divided by ranges of mountains allowed no territorial unity and - as a result - political unity was difficult to be achieved. By the end of the 9th century a network of small "self-governing" city-states, polis, consisting of towns and their controlling villages, often competed with each other for power and the concept of being part of the same "Hellas" was an abstraction. Greeks had a sense of identity based on a common language and religion; however, they felt that they belonged to their individual city-state, a distinct social and economic unit. The institution of the city-state provided them with the liberty that they desired and the security that they needed. They could participate in the administration and their lives were governed by established codes, the laws. Defending their city at any physical cost and sacrificing personal interests to that of the collective were regarded as obvious and unquestioned obligations. In times of grave danger, they briefly united, recognizing their common identity as they compared themselves to the "barbarians", only to resume their rivalry immediately after the danger was gone. Following the Persian wars, we have the development of the Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian League, with the consequent change from individual units to a number of separate but great powers.

Small in scale (e.g. Athens was extending in approximately 1,000 square miles) the individual city-states were inhabited by a small number of people. Athens at its peak - before the Peloponnesian War - numbered c. 300,000 people and other big city-states like Corinth, c. 90,000. Aristotle writes in "Politics" (VII 1326b) for the "unity of place" in his ideal polis, stating that "a state composed of too many... will not be a true polis because it can hardly have a true constitution", thus stressing the importance of compactness in size and number. He emphasizes the importance of citizens recognizing each other and - along with Plato - also stresses the importance of "self-sufficiency", autarkia, of the polis: he points to the following elements that would make a polis self-sufficient: food supply, handicrafts, money, weapons, religion and law. Historically, the development of the city-state begun in the post-Mycenaean period. The fall of the Mycenean hegemonies lead to the deterioration of kingship and the transferal of power to an aristocracy. The polis with its surrounding villages, became a cohesive political unit with the citadel, the acropolis, as its religious center, the agora and the private dwellings. In the following centuries, the city-states give birth to the ideas of democracy, isonomia (equality of rights) and eunomia (fair laws).

More The Classical years

"Our being of the same stock and the same speech, our common shrines of the gods and rituals, our similar customs" Herodotus writes (VIII 144). The mountainous Greek terrain allowed little communication among the different city-states that developed and encouraged their "isolation" and "self-governing".

The classical period is bounded by the two confrontations of Greece and Persia, one in 481-480 B.C., with the invasion of Persia and the other in 333-323 B.C., with the expedition of Alexander the Great and the conquering of the Persian Empire.

In 431 B.C. Corcyra (Corfu), a colony of Corinth, rebelled against its metropolis. Athens, wanting to use the fleet of Corcyra, placed the island under its aegis and admitted it to the Delian League.

Early in the 6th century B.C., the Areopagos -faced with a serious social and economic crisis and extensive popular unrest, in the aftermath of the imposition of the harsh Draconian laws- decided to hand over all political power to a single individual, Solon.

The two centuries between 750-550 B.C. were marked by expansion and colonization of the Greek city-states, which in turn were made wealthy and powerful. On the other hand, the fragmentation of Greece was further encouraged, as the colonies remained independent from their metropolis, although they shared the same political and religious image.