090007 VO The Development of the Greek Polis (2021W)

Content:
The polis or city-state was the dominant form of social organisation in the ancient Greek world. These lectures will address how the polis developed from the smaller scale communities of the Iron Age, including: processes of urbanisation and changes in landscape use and settlement patterns; processes of community formation focusing on public and monumental space; and processes of social structuring as performed through social practice. We will examine divergent trajectories leading to the development of the polis in different parts of the Greek world, as well as considering Greek communities which never developed into poleis, instead espousing alternative forms of social organisation.