An excellent introduction to the polis, or the ancient Greek city-state, which presents and comments on the latest findings of research.

The book analyzes the ancient Greek polis as one of the city-state cultures and compares it with other city-states in world history. The author does not focus exclusively on Athens and Sparta but examines the approximately 1,000 cities that have so far been identified.

From antiquity until the 19th century, there were two types of state: large-scale states, each dotted with cities, and regions divided into city-states, each consisting of the urban center and its hinterland. An area that included interacting city-states constituted a city-state culture, and the introductory chapter of the Polis explains the concepts of city/urban, state, city-state, and city-state culture, and examines the 37 related cultures that have so far been identified.

Mogens Herman Hansen thoroughly yet understandably introduces us to the polis, or the ancient Greek city-state, by far the largest and best-known city-state culture. The most renowned cities were Athens and Sparta, but at least another 1,000 have been organized - around 600 of these in mainland Greece and about 400 more in the regions where Greek colonies were established.

Hansen poses the following questions: When did the polis emerge? When did it come to an end? How was the body of citizens formed? Was it a merger of state and society or a society without a state? The data presented have been drawn from the disciplines of history, archaeology, anthropology, sociology, and political science, and aim to provide answers to these questions. The book will prove to be a valuable guide to this essential, albeit somewhat confusing, aspect of ancient world society. Mogens Herman Hansen is Emeritus Professor at the University of Copenhagen.