The meaning of Greek city-state and its influence on the constitution of later generations

The polis of ancient Greece. It is usually centered on a city, including the village communities around it. Since the 8th century BC, a large number of city-states have been formed in ancient Greece, and aristocratic politics or slave-owner democracy have been widely practiced, among which Sparta and Athens are the representatives. Early Rome also belonged to the city-state type. Historians are still discussing whether the polis is a common stage in ancient countries. The city-states of ancient Greece from the 8th century BC to the 4th century BC. At that time, hundreds of city-states coexisted and many city-state alliances appeared. Among the most powerful city-states in ancient Greece, Athens was the first and Sparta was the second. The so-called polis is a country with the city as the center and towns and villages around it. All Greek city-states are small countries. According to their political status, the residents of Greek city-states can be divided into three categories: ① Free people who have civil rights and can participate in political activities. (2) Freemen without citizenship. They are either immigrants from foreign countries (such as "foreigners" in Athens), people who are in an unequal position with citizens in power due to specific historical reasons (such as "border people" in Sparta), people who have lost their citizenship because of poverty, people who have been deprived of their citizenship because of breaking the law, or slaves who have been released. (3) Exploited and enslaved slaves. Most slaves were not Greeks, but some were Greeks, such as the "black lab" in Sparta. The political evolution history of Greek polis is also the development history of legal system. This period of history laid a very rare institutional background for the emergence of his thinkers. This system is more vital to the early democracy of the Greek city-state, whether it is a civic assembly composed of adult men, a Council (such as the meeting of elders in Sparta and the meeting of 500 people in Athens) or an elected public official (or at least confirmed by the civic assembly). Therefore, the city-state culture is a well-deserved source for the later constitutional system, especially the history of western legal thought.