Discuss the role of the polis in Archaic and Classical-era Greece, supporting your response with examples and detail from your reading Poleis

My name is Modinara, I'm from the USA, I'm 23 years old and I'm studying computer science. I'm single, non-binary (genderfluid), and I love knowledge, money, and technology. I also love to write. I don't love so much the (not so) new design of the university's website. I liked the previous one most. 

Here's my answer to this week's discussion question:

Discuss the role of the polis in Archaic and Classical-era Greece, supporting your response with examples and detail from your reading.

Poleis were city-states independent of each other that handled the issues of governmental organization, culture, war, and foreign relationships in quite different manners. In reality, what is known as Ancient Greece was formed by a number of poleis, many of them considerably small in size (Brand, n.d.). 

The poleis were not part of a concrete group. They chose their own ways of government, as it is made obvious from the political differences between Athens and Sparta (Brand, n.d). As stated by Arzamas (2017), Ancient Greece was actually a group of city-states that can be first recognized in 800 BCE. As a consequence of being independent political organizations, each polis faced its own particular issues in relation to other poleis. 

There was no such thing as unity among the poleis. Poleis behaved in extremely independent manners (as it would be expected from an independent country), only turning to one another when they had an interest in forming an alliance or invading and subjugating another polis; the latter being perfectly illustrated by Sparta (Brand, n.d.). Citizens from one polis would be considered foreigners in another polis, and would even receive special treatment, as is illustrated by the Metics social class in Athens (Brand, n.d.). Due to the geographic conditions of Ancient Greece, colonization took place, thus spreading Greek culture into relatively far lands (Arzamas, 2017). But the culture was, too, a matter particular to each polis.

Each polis had its own ideology that shaped their state-level decisions and organization. The most striking example of this fact can be found in the great differences between Sparta and Athens. While Athenian culture promoted the development of thought and a somewhat-free distribution of political power, Spartan culture was characterized by its focus on military development and the absence of interest in any other area (Brand, n.d.). Their cultural differences led Athens and Sparta to take different roads in terms of foreign policy and political organization. 

In conclusion, the fact that each polis was organized independently from each other led to political and cultural diversity. It can be affirmed that Western civilization had its beginning the moment each polis had the opportunity to choose their own form of government, culture, and, ultimately, their own way of life.

References

Arzamas. (2017, May 30). Ancient Greece in 18 minutes [Video]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFRxmi4uCGo&feature=emb_logo

Brand, P. J. (n.d.). Athens & Sparta: Democracy vs. dictatorship. Retrieved from: https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/770336/mod_book/chapter/228561/Athens%20%20Sparta%20dictatorship%20%20democracy.pdf?time=1582319035433