Greek City States
What is a
Polis?
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A polis is a Greek City-State
 Polis had an acropolis-a fortress
 Polis was surrounded by walls for protection
against invasion
 Polis had an agora- a marketplace
 Each polis had own leaders and government
Megara
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Had good schools
Studied drama, poetry, public speaking,
reading writing, math, flute and lyre.
Loved money
Went to high school
Went to military school
Have their own coinage
Corinth
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Attended day school where memorized
poetry, studied drama, public speaking,
reading, writing, math and the flute
Attended high school if parents could
afford it
Went to military school for 2 years
Famous for bronze statues, pottery and painted vases
Created own coinage and charged traders to convert
their coins
Athens
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Superbly educated in arts and
sciences
Attended day school where studied drama, public
speaking, reading, writing, math, and how to play the
flute.
At age 18, attended military school for two additional
years
Famed for its literature, poetry, drama, theatre,
schools, buildings, government, and intellectual
superiority
Sparta
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Endured unbelievable pain and
hardship to become a superior Sparta
soldier and citizen
Taken away from family at age 7, lived
a harsh and brutal life in the soldiers barracks.
Beaten by older children who started fights to help
make them tough and strong
Often were whipped in front of groups of other
Spartans, including there parents, but never cried out
in pain
Where given very little food, but encouraged to steal
food, instead
Argos
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Educated in the arts and the sciences, and trained to be
productive and capable in times of peace or war
Magnificent stone sculptures of athletes, rippling with
muscle, are the envy of many a Greek city-state
Famous for having wonderful musicians and poets.
Drama reached new heights in this polis. Plays are
performed in open-air
theatres, drawing crowds
of 20,000 or more Argive
citizens!