Polity · 800 BCE – 83 CE

Greek City-States

Peak recorded area
206,476 km²
164 BCE
Data series
2
725 BCE154 BCE
Sources cited
3
see all

Overview

Polis means 'city' in Ancient Greek. The ancient word polis had socio-political connotations not possessed by modern usage. For example, Modern Greek πόλη (póli), "city", is located within a χώρα (chóra), "country", which is a πατρίδα (patrída) 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.

Lead section from Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article.

Territory

61 dated territorial extents on record from Cliopatria. Areas are measured off the recorded polygons; the line steps because each extent holds until the next one is recorded — nothing is interpolated.

The record

The best-attested series in each category; where several projects publish the same quantity, the one with the most observations is shown. Each row is the most recent value the record holds at or before 83 CE, shown with the year that value belongs to. Some statistical series also publish forward projections — the year column is the honest guide. Nothing on this page is interpolated or estimated by us.

Development

Development series recorded for Greek City-States, each with the year the value belongs to and the source it came from
SeriesValue · year · source
Known Ancient Places6 obs · 725 BCE154 BCE1,409places154 BCE · Pleiades Gazetteer
Known Ancient Settlements6 obs · 725 BCE154 BCE793settlements154 BCE · Pleiades Gazetteer

Sources

Every figure above comes from one of these. Nothing on this page is estimated, interpolated or model-generated.

  • Cliopatria

    Seshat Global History Databank. Cliopatria: a historical basemap of polity borders (cliopatria.geojson).

  • Pleiades Gazetteer2024 snapshot

    Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.). Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places.

    CC BY 3.0

  • Wikipedia

    Wikipedia contributors. Article lead sections, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.

    CC BY-SA 4.0