SPP 1209: The Hellenistic Polis as a Living Space. Urban Structures and Civic Identity between Tradition and Innovation

城邦从古希腊时期开始，就是希腊文化的基本组成部分。城邦是一种特殊类型的社区组织，通过一系列政治，社会和宗教机构实现最大限度的自治，共识和稳定。希腊化时期通常被认为是一个衰落的时期，在此期间，随着新的权力体系和不断变化的政治环境的发展，以前繁荣的古典城邦失去了许多特征。然而，希腊化时期新城邦基础的丰富和希腊城市化的巨大扩张，掩盖了这一论点。

Since its beginnings in the Archaic period the polis was a fundamental component of Greek culture. The polis was a particular type of community organisation enabling the maximum of self-governance, consensus and stability by means of a range of political, social and religious institutions. The Hellenistic period has often been considered as a period of decline, during which the formerly thriving Classical polis lost many of its characteristics as new systems of power and changing political contexts developed. The wealth of new polis foundations and the enormous expansion of Greek urbanism in the Hellenistic period, however, belie this thesis.