Geomantic omen of ancient Greek city-states

Sakala Leo, a Greek scholar, collected the western definition of polis in his works, and thought that polis was a state form, which depended on certain conditions. This statement obviously does not summarize what a city-state is, nor does it solve any problems.

First of all, scholars from all over the world interpret the definition of polis.

Scholars in the former Soviet Union poured a lot of enthusiasm into the polis. They paid more attention to the Greek and Roman polis as the same subject of citizens, and pointed out that the polis should be the collective of citizens first. But unfortunately, there is no clear answer to the exact definition of polis.

In China, scholars seem to have different views on the concept of polis. One view is that the so-called city-state refers to the city-state, that is, the country is formed with a city as the center and rural areas around it. City-state is an early state form developed from clan society, which is a common phenomenon everywhere.

However, this idea of spreading the polis to the whole world is not accepted by all scholars. After discussing the political, economic and military characteristics of the Greek city-state, Gu Zhun thought? The Greek city-state system is an exception rather than a rule in world history, but there are some similarities in the evolution of political systems in ancient eastern history? .

Chen Longbo's viewpoint is close to Gu Zhun's, and his induction of polis is probably the most comprehensive and systematic. It mainly appears in the Greek Peninsula and the Italian Peninsula in the west. The polis is a state form based on the high productivity and economic development in the Iron Age, which is higher than the early polis? .

In addition, as early as in ancient Greece, the Greeks themselves were very concerned about the city-state system. For example, Herodotus, Thucydides and Aristotle all studied the city-state problem from different aspects. Among them, Aristotle is recognized as the master of ancient city-state theory. If we can follow Aristotle's views on the definition of polis, it should be closer to historical reality.

Second, the city-state in Aristotle's eyes first, on the scale of the city-state.

When Aristotle designed the blueprint of the country, he particularly emphasized that the territory of the country should not be too wide and the population should not be too large. The proper limit should be that citizens can get to know each other. When people get together for a meeting, one person's voice can be heard by all the participants.

In fact, the area of the ancient Greek city-state is very small, with an average of 50 to 100 km. For example, the area of Foces in central Greece is about 1650 square kilometers, but the number of city-states is not less than 22, and the average area of each state is only 70 to 75 square kilometers.

On the cause of this feature, the traditional view is that ancient Greece was mountainous, with few plains and narrow regions. However, in Aristotle's view, if a city-state is as populous as a nation-state, will there still be foreigners? The phenomenon of pretending to be a citizen and mixing political rights can hardly constitute a real constitutional government or become a real city-state. ?

From this point of view, the ancient Greeks? Small country and few people? 、? Take the city as the state? However, it is the external expression of their unique social life, and it does not constitute the essential feature of this national form.

Secondly, politically, we can see that Aristotle spent a lot of time discussing the definition and concept of citizens.

Although the size and population of ancient Greek city-states were extremely limited, even these limited populations were obviously divided. Generally speaking, each city-state divides these people into slaves, foreigners and citizens according to their different political and legal status.

Slaves have no political rights and social status, and are often regarded as the property of their owners, and can be bought, sold, transferred or rented at will; Gentiles are free foreigners living in their own countries, and their status is higher than that of slaves. However, it does not enjoy any political rights. Except slaves and foreigners, the rest are our own citizens. However, this does not mean everyone in this city-state. Women, children and the elderly are not citizens. But they are still regarded as a part of the city-state and enjoy the same legal protection as other citizens.

Through the above screening, the so-called citizens actually refer to all adult males in the polis. They enjoy all kinds of privileges, they can participate in public activities such as religious sacrifices and festivals, and they can also own the land of the city-state and get legal protection. More importantly, citizens have the right to directly participate in the governance of the city-state. In this regard, Aristotle defined citizens as? Anyone involved in judicial affairs and authority? .

In fact, it means that citizens have the right to participate in the citizens' assembly or jury court. For example, in Athens, every citizen can vote and vote in the assembly and attend the jury court as a juror. Of course, the equality of citizens' political rights in Athens benefited from its developed democratic system. However, not all Greek city-states practice democratic politics, and in the city-states that practice other regimes, all kinds of official positions are not open to all citizens. Nevertheless, in those undemocratic city-States, ordinary citizens can still participate in the political life of the city-state through the citizens' assembly, and generally speaking, the citizens' assembly is the highest organ of state power.

For example, in Sparta, a typical aristocratic oligarchy, the citizens' assembly not only has the right to elect elders and supervisors, but also has the right to decide major events. It can be seen that no matter what the government form of the Greek city-state, what is its political rule? The majority decisions of citizens enjoying political rights, whether in oligarchy, aristocracy or civilian regime, are always final and have the highest authority. ?

In this sense, citizens are regarded as the real masters of the polis. This fundamentally determines the democratic nature of the Greek city-state, which has become the authentic body of life among citizens.

Only in this * * * body can citizens enjoy full autonomy and all their interests can be fundamentally guaranteed. Once they leave their own city-state, or their own city-state does not exist, any citizen will no longer be a citizen, they will lose all their privileges, and they will become a foreigner without shelter or even a slave. In this case, citizens will have a strong sense of identity and dependence on the polis, thus stimulating their strong sense of social identity, which is manifested in their daily life, that is, their compliance with the laws of the polis and their enthusiasm for public affairs.

Third, the conclusion

Through the relevant analysis of the ancient Greek city-states, we can see that the essence of the Greek city-state lies in its civil society nature, and the characteristics of small countries and few people are only the external manifestations of this essential feature.

Knowing this, it is much clearer when defining the concept of city-state and its state form. For a long time, we simply interpreted the polis as? A city and its surrounding countryside form a country? Is inappropriate. Because in ancient Greece, not all countries were centered on a city, such as Sparta, and there was no city, but no one in classical writers would think that Sparta was not a city-state. In addition, when the ancient Greeks looked at the country, they did not equate it with territory, but with the people.

When reading classical works, we will find that when classical writers refer to a country, they all refer to someone, not a country. For example, when they mention Athens, they all use it? The Athenians? Instead of. Athens? ; When addressing Sparta, what do you use? Lake Damon? Instead of. Sparta? .

The reason why the Greeks formed this idea should be attributed to their unique social organizational structure, that is, as we pointed out earlier, the ancient Greek state was essentially a civil society, and it was the same life among citizens who rejected slaves and foreigners. In view of this, Bian Xiao believes that the ancient Greek city-state is a citizen state with small countries and few people as its external characteristics and citizenship as its essential characteristics, rather than a city-state.