Ancient Greece was not a unified nation, but
a collection of city-states known as poli.
Poli is the plural of polis.
Polis is often translated as city, but there
was a very important difference between an
ancient Greek polis and a modern city.
The ancient Greeks saw themselves as citizens
of their poli no matter where they lived.
If a person was born in Athens, he would consider
himself an Athenian even if he had lived in
another polis for many years.
Most Greek poli consisted of a small walled
area and the surrounding farmland, but some
larger poli consisted of several small villages.
The poli developed independently of one another
because they were isolated by rugged mountains
or were located on small islands, but the
people of the poli spoke similar languages
and worshipped many of the same gods.
Each polis had an independent government.
The word we use today for making decisions
as a group is politics.
Politics is derived from an ancient Greek
word that refers to the Greek polis.
The Greek poli had to depend on one another
to survive.
Many of the city-states developed alliances,
called leagues, for protection against other
cities and foreign invaders.
Each polis contributed soldiers and ships
to form a common army and navy.
The Greek poli met every four years at a great
athletic contest to honor the god Zeus.
A period of four years in ancient Greece was
known as an Olympiad, so the ancient Greeks
called their contests the Olympics.
During the Olympic Games, poli that were at
war would suspend hostilities until the contests
ended.
We don’t know when the ancient Greeks began
to hold Olympic Games because the contests
are older than any Greek writing.
Today the spirit of the ancient Greeks lives
on as most of the nations of the world participate
in Olympic Games every four years.
