- The city state (also known as the polis) was the fundamental political unit in ancient Greece.
- A polis was made up of a city and its surrounding countryside, which included numerous villages.
- The majority of city-states controlled between 50 and 500 square miles of territory; they were often home to fewer than 10,000 residents.
- Greek city-states had many different forms of government.
Greek City-State Influences Future Empires
The development of Greek city-states influenced the democracy of the Roman republic in multiple ways. The idea of representative government began to take place in Greek city-states. Many city states went through power struggles. The people avoided political upheavals by making timely reforms. Then the Athenian reformers moved toward democracy, which is rule by the people. People in Athens started taking part in political decision making. Although the Romans took over Greek city-states, they used their form of government to create Roman Republic.