City-state is the main concept of political connotation in ancient Greece. Next, I will introduce the Greek city-state civilization to you.
Greece, known as the birthplace of western civilization, has a long history and has had a great influence on the historical development of three continents. Modern Greek is another name for Greece) and became the source of its international code GR. As the birthplace of western civilization, Greece has created splendid ancient culture and made great achievements in music, mathematics, philosophy, literature, architecture and sculpture.
From about 2000 BC to 30 BC, ancient Greece established a series of slave countries in the whole Mediterranean region including North Africa, West Asia, southern Italy and Sicily, centering on the Balkans, Aegean Islands and the coast of Asia Minor.
From the beginning of the 8th century BC to the end of the 6th century BC, most parts of the ancient Greek world were in a peaceful environment and were not seriously threatened by foreigners. Due to the increasingly close ties with other civilization centers in the ancient world, the Greeks learned a lot from Egypt and West Asia. Iron tools have been widely used in agriculture and handicrafts. Although agriculture is the main economic sector in all regions, in some regions with superior geographical conditions, such as Corinth, Egina, Miletus, Athens, Hakis, Errett Riya and Jos, commerce and handicrafts, such as oil exploitation, wine making, metal processing, pottery making and weapons manufacturing, have made great progress. Shipbuilding technology and navigation industry have also made great progress, and three rows of paddle warships have appeared. In the 8th century BC, the Greeks recreated their own characters on the basis of transforming the Phoenician alphabet. In the middle of 6th century BC, Egina, Corinth and Athens minted coins. With the development of productive forces, the increase of population and the emergence and development of cities, countries began to form among the Greeks in the Greek Peninsula, Aegean Islands and the coastal areas of Asia Minor from the 8th century BC. Within a century or two, a number of small countries called “polis” by historians appeared one after another. However, some tribes still stay in the late primitive society.
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The large-scale migration of Greeks from the middle of the 8th century BC to the end of the 6th century BC is an important factor of social and economic changes. Businessmen went out to do business, bankrupts went overseas to make a living, and losers in political struggles successively occupied some colonies overseas. With the growth of Greek population and the development of social economy, the scope of colonization has been expanding. Dozens of Greek city-states (far from all participating in immigration) have successively established more than 100 immigrant areas from the east coast of the Black Sea to Marseille, France, including parts of the southern Italian peninsula and Sicily, to the mouth of the Nile River and Libya in the south, and to the Adriatic coast of Albania in the north.
The most famous ones are Syracuse built by Linus, the tower built by Spartans (see Great Greece), Byzantium built by Megara and Olbia built by Miletus. The main reasons for most city-state immigrants are population growth and insufficient cultivated land. The main feature of immigrants in this period was that most immigrant areas became independent city-states. Their relationship with their home country is mainly limited to worshipping a common god. With the change of conditions, their relationship is alienated, close and in a state of war. At the same time, in many areas, immigrants enslaved and exploited the indigenous residents. The establishment and development of numerous immigrant areas in a vast area is conducive to the economic and cultural exchanges between Greeks and other ethnic groups, to the development of Greek economy, and to the evolution of social and political systems in various city-States.
While the Greeks expanded outward, they also constantly developed internal exchanges between regions. The establishment of many “Neighborhood Alliances” with religious activities as the main content, as well as the emergence and development of religious centers and competition centers such as Olympia and Delphi, which have gradually taken on all Greek significance, have promoted mutual understanding and economic and cultural exchanges between Greeks. There have also been wars of different natures between the city-states, including the wars in which Sparta conquered Messenia and enslaved the Greeks.
After the middle of the 7th century BC, heavy infantry gradually became the main arms of citizen soldiers in every city-state. The reform of military system has an influence on the political and social development of the city-state. The intensification of the polarization between the rich and the poor has caused the common people to struggle against the exploitation, slavery and political monopoly of clans and nobles, developed the slave possession system, which mainly enslaved foreigners, and changed the class structure and social and political system of many city-States. Its outstanding performance is the formation of “equal commune” in Sparta and the rise and fall of tyrant politics in many city-states. At the same time, there have been some activities of “legislators” who stipulated the basic system of the city-state by statute law, such as the reforms of Lycurgos in Sparta, Solon in Athens and Cleisthenes. Except for some tyrants fostered by Persians, in Greece in the 7th and 6th centuries BC, the word “tyrant” refers to those who came to power without election. Most of them were supported by the middle and lower class citizens, and took some measures in favor of the lower class people, which weakened the power and influence of clans and nobles and promoted the economic and cultural development. The most famous tyrants were Periander of Corinth and peisistratus of Athens.
From the middle of the 6th century BC, Sparta in the south of the Peloponnesian Peninsula gradually United with most of the city-states on the peninsula to form the Peloponnesian League and became the leader of a city-state group in Greece. The Greek city-state uprising in Asia Minor (500-494 BC), headed by Miletus, overthrew Persian rule and opened the prelude to Greek history in the 5th century BC. Persian troops invaded Greece in 492 BC, 490 BC and 480 BC respectively, all of which ended in failure. In the marathon, Salamis, Platia and other battles, the people of dozens of Greek city-states who resisted aggression showed a high degree of patriotism, and the victory of the Greeks had a far-reaching impact both inside and outside the Greek world (see the Greek-Persian War). In 480 BC, the Greeks in Sicily also won a great victory over Carthage.
In 478 BC or before 477 BC, some Greek city-states headed by Athens formed the Tyrol Union. The establishment of the alliance and the evolution of its nature made the whole political structure of the Greek world increasingly complex. The development of democracy based on slave ownership in Athens had a great influence on the political, ideological and cultural development of the whole Greek world. Sparta became more and more uneasy about the continuous growth and expansion of Athens’ military and economic strength, and tried to limit it. Thebes, Corinth, Argos and other big city-states all weighed the gains and losses, and dealt with the two big city-state groups headed by Sparta and Athens respectively. After the end of the Greek-Persian War in 449 BC, the contradictions among Greek states became more prominent. Athens reached its peak during the reign of Pericles. The contradiction between the city-states eventually led to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. This war not only involved many city-states on the Greek peninsula, but also touched many Greek city-states scattered in Sicily, Aegean islands, Thrace coast and Asia Minor to a great extent. The war ended in the defeat of Athens. After the war, the polarization between the rich and the poor in Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Syracuse and other major city-states intensified, and social contradictions became increasingly acute. In some areas, the civil service system gradually disintegrated and the mercenary system continued to develop.
Persia, which was defeated in the Persian War and temporarily withdrew from Europe, became an important force to manipulate the Greek political situation again from the late Peloponnesian War, and supported Sparta with a lot of money to help it defeat Athens. Soon, Sparta had an armed conflict with Persia because of the political status of the Greek city-state in Asia Minor, and the Persians turned to support the Greek States dissatisfied with Sparta’s rule. In 395 BC, the Corinthian War, in which Athens and other countries jointly opposed Sparta, broke out (ending in 387 BC). In the same year, the fleet commanded by Athenian farmers working in Persia defeated the Spartan navy and quickly cleared the Spartan army stationed in the Aegean islands. He successfully returned to Athens and rebuilt the Athens wall that was demolished at the request of Sparta in 404 BC. In order to win the support of Persians, the two warring parties in Greece competed to send representatives to negotiate with the Persian king. In 387 BC, under the direct intervention of Persians, Sparta forced many Greek city-states, including Athens, to accept the antar Kidas Peace Treaty in favor of Sparta. Since then, Sparta has unscrupulously interfered in the internal affairs of other city-states, ravaged the sovereignty of other countries and fostered oligarchs.
In 378 BC, the Thebes Democrats, with the support of the Athenians, overthrew the oligarchy established by Sparta in 382 BC and expelled the troops occupying the Acropolis. The Viotia League headed by Thebes, under the leadership of Epaminondas and others, temporarily became the leading force of Greek local political situation. After the Battle of Luctra in 371 BC, the Spartan army was expelled from central Greece. Subsequently, Epaminondas led the army into the Peloponnesian Peninsula, which contributed to the independence of Acadia and made Mycenae get rid of the rule of Sparta for a hundred years and regain political independence. Since then, Sparta is no longer the first military power in Greece, and its political influence has gone from bad to worse. In 362 BC, the rule of Thebes ended after the Battle of Montania. In Thessaly, Ferrer’s tyrant Song Ya (reigned from 380 BC to 370 BC) once dominated and tried to rule Greece.
Taking advantage of people’s general dissatisfaction with Sparta’s tyrannical rule, Athens organized a new city-state alliance in 378 BC. At first, it solemnly promised that all countries joining the alliance would be equal, not to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, not to station troops in other countries, and not to resettle Athenian military immigrants, which won wide support for a while. However, the second city-state alliance organized by Athens (known as the “Second Athens Maritime Alliance” in history) did not last long. Thebes was dissatisfied with Athens’ proximity to Sparta, which led to the split of some supporters. Then, because Athens violated the treaty of alliance, an “alliance war” broke out between the Allies and Athens (357-355 BC). The failure of Athens led to the disintegration of the alliance, which was officially dissolved in 338 BC.
With the rise of the kingdom of Macedonia and the Hellenistic era, the residents of Macedonia, Greece’s northern neighbor, were very close to the Greeks in race and language, and were deeply influenced by the advanced Greek culture. The rapid rise of ancient Macedonia under Philip II (reigned from 359 BC to 336 BC) not only greatly promoted the development of Macedonian history, but also integrated Macedonian history with Greek history for a long time. Macedonia’s external expansion during the reign of Philip II seriously damaged the interests of many Greek city-states and threatened their survival. The anti-Macedonian faction in Athens, represented by Demosthenes (384-322 BC), resolutely opposed Macedonian aggression in Athens and abroad from the 1950s, but ended in failure.
In 338 BC, the Allies Greece was defeated in the Battle of Coronha. Since then, most Greek city-states gradually lost their political independence and fell under the rule of the Kingdom of Macedonia.