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The Interconnected Mediterranean of the Iron Age

Tides of History

CHAPTER

The Politics of the Polis

Greece is the Mediterranean in microcosm, with productive shorelines and close proximity to hills. The lack of arable land and its exceptional value is also a contributing factor in the near-constant conflict between cities. A few centuries ago, a really prosperous Greek city might have had 5,000 inhabitants living in an unwalled urban space With small temples and public buildings of mudbricker wood. Now they have tens of thousands of inhabitants, protected behind imposing city walls.

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