The Polis as the Engine of the Intellect – Part III
We now turn out attention to describing the city-state physically.
The polis was a defined geographical unit, the boundaries of which were known to its citizens, located in an Asty or concentration of urban dwellings. Prior to the Polis, tribes defined separate rallying points for military, religious, or political purposes. With the emergence of the city-state, however, these functions became concentrated in one place. Courts became centrally located and geographically separated religious functions were brought together in the temple of the state gods.