Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

Get access

City state
(1,691 words)

1. Concept

A city state, or city republic, in the strict sense, is an organizational form of politically autonomous community that was particularly common in Mediterranean Antiquity, enduring into the early modern period. It was associated with the settlement type and the social and legal form of the town. This definition is an open one, combining social, political, spatial, legal, and cultural criteria [7. 65–67]. One particular feature of the city state that distinguishe…

Cite this page
Mörke, Olaf, “City state”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_028124>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20160907



▲   Back to top   ▲