Sympolity

A sympolitie ( Greek  συμπολιτεία sympoliteia , literally “common citizenship”) was the amalgamation of two or more originally separate places to a common polis in ancient Greece . The term is mentioned sporadically in literary sources and especially in inscriptions. Because of this usage, ancient historical research uses the term “sympolitie” in particular when the individual settlements continued to exist as such and no common settlement center was established ( Synoikismos ). In many cases one of the parishes was clearly the dominant one.

Research distinguishes sympolity from koinon , in which several political units formed a federal state (however, Polybius also uses sympoliteia and the corresponding verb for the Achaean and Aitolian leagues ), and isopoliteia , in which the citizens of several poles were legally equated with each other , but the cities retained their independence.

literature

• Peter J. Rhodes: Sympoliteia. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 11, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01481-9 , column 1137 f.