Polis
A New History of the Ancient Greek City-State from the Early Iron Age to the End of Antiquity
Published on 28. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
736 pages
978-0-691-26003-7 (ISBN)
Description
A definitive new history of the origins, evolution, and scope of the ancient Greek city-state
The Greek polis, or city-state, was a resilient and adaptable political institution founded on the principles of citizenship, freedom, and equality. Emerging around 650 BCE and enduring to 350 CE, it offered a means for collaboration among fellow city-states and social bargaining between a community and its elites-but at what cost? Polis proposes a panoramic account of the ancient Greek city-state, its diverse forms, and enduring characteristics over the span of a millennium.
In this landmark book, John Ma provides a new history of the polis, charting its spread and development into a common denominator for hundreds of communities from the Black Sea to North Africa and from the Near East to Italy. He explores its remarkable achievements as a political form offering community, autonomy, prosperity, public goods, and spaces of social justice for its members. He also reminds us that behind the successes of civic ideology and institutions lie entanglements with domination, empire, and enslavement. Ma's sweeping and multifaceted narrative draws widely on a rich store of historical evidence while weighing in on lively scholarly debates and offering new readings of Aristotle as the great theoretician of the polis.
A monumental work of scholarship, Polis transforms our understanding of antiquity while challenging us to grapple with the moral legacy of an idea whose very success centered on the inclusion of some and the exclusion of others.
The Greek polis, or city-state, was a resilient and adaptable political institution founded on the principles of citizenship, freedom, and equality. Emerging around 650 BCE and enduring to 350 CE, it offered a means for collaboration among fellow city-states and social bargaining between a community and its elites-but at what cost? Polis proposes a panoramic account of the ancient Greek city-state, its diverse forms, and enduring characteristics over the span of a millennium.
In this landmark book, John Ma provides a new history of the polis, charting its spread and development into a common denominator for hundreds of communities from the Black Sea to North Africa and from the Near East to Italy. He explores its remarkable achievements as a political form offering community, autonomy, prosperity, public goods, and spaces of social justice for its members. He also reminds us that behind the successes of civic ideology and institutions lie entanglements with domination, empire, and enslavement. Ma's sweeping and multifaceted narrative draws widely on a rich store of historical evidence while weighing in on lively scholarly debates and offering new readings of Aristotle as the great theoretician of the polis.
A monumental work of scholarship, Polis transforms our understanding of antiquity while challenging us to grapple with the moral legacy of an idea whose very success centered on the inclusion of some and the exclusion of others.
Reviews / Votes
"A History Today Book of the Year" "Longlisted for the Runciman Award, Anglo-Hellenic League" "A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year" "Ma really has mastered the voluminous evidence, and it is a joy to watch him interpreting it: there is a lyricism to his descriptions of decrees and statues. . . .Stimulating and ambitious. . . .This is a book anyone seriously interested in the ancient world will want to read."---George Woudhuysen, The Critic "Polis is a vast, generous and deeply humane book, the work of an extraordinary scholar at the peak of his powers. . . .This is history-writing at its very best. I cannot recommend it too highly."---Peter Thonemann, Times Literary Supplement "A meticulously researched history of the peculiar political phenomenon of the autonomous city state, ruled by an elite class of peers who shared resources to achieve common goals. Ma's magnum opus offers a persuasive account of how the polis came to be, and the book does well to dwell on its liberatory political possibilities without losing sight of the fact the polis was also 'a patriarchy, an enslavement society, a nativist organization, and a polity haunted by the model of an urban aristocracy'. An extraordinary achievement."---Mirela Ivanova, History Today "A monumental. . . . [and] impressive book, which should be required reading for anyone interested in Greek history."---Kostas Vlassopoulos, American Historical Review "A milestone. . . . [Polis] is one of the most important books to come out of the field of ancient history in recent years and will remain so for the foreseeable future."---Mischa Meier, Bryn Mawr Classical Review "Masterful. . . . [Polis] should stand as the standard reference in English on this important topic for many years to come."---Mike Markowitz, The NYMAS REVIEW "Meticulously researched, intensely reflexive, and engagingly written."---Paul Cartledge, New Criterion "Wide-ranging and magnificently thoughtful."---Steve Donoghue, Stevereads "You cannot escape the fact that Polis is a true tour de force."---Fredrik Sixtensson, Axess Magasin "This tome will long remain classic exposition of the Greco-Roman poleis. . . . Highly recommended." * Choice * "A monumental study. . . . This is unquestionably the most significant contribution to the study of Greek history over the last two decades."---Kostas Vlassopoulos, Greece & Rome "Ma's Polis is a tour de force that seeks to undertake a penetrating new analysis of the eponymous ancient political community. . . . Ma's Polis is undoubtedly a triumph. A biography of political communities from the Early Iron Age through Late Antiquity is by itself a major landmark work; but add in a careful and thought-provoking analysis of institutional history and a radical new take on the chronology of the city-state's rise and fall, and Polis is nothing short of magisterial."---Michael Loy, Journal of Greek ArchaeologyMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
71 b/w illus. 1 table. 16 maps.
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 46 mm
Weight
1150 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-26003-7 (9780691260037)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
John Ma
Polis
A New History of the Ancient Greek City-State from the Early Iron Age to the End of Antiquity
E-Book
05/2024
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€49.49
Available for download
Person
John Ma is professor of classics at Columbia University. He is the author of Statues and Cities: Honorific Portraits and Civic Identity in the Hellenistic World, Antiochos III and the Cities of Western Asia Minor, and numerous articles on ancient history.