After the demise of Mycenaean civilization the Greeks formed small communities, which evolved in the eighth century BC. C., and they became cities. These cities became known as "city-states" or polis
Unlike the cities of the great empires (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia), which were organized around the royal palace and the temple, the center of the polis constituted the agora, an open space where citizens came to trade and to exchange ideas In the agora takes place the political life of the polis, and in it also arises Greek philosophy.
The orographic aspect of Greece meant that the polis were located mostly in coastal territories difficult to access and in valleys that were surrounded by mountains.
The polis were constituted as a political, social and economic unit of Greece, but although they shared a language, common religion, cultural ties and a racial and intellectual identity that they proudly exhibited, the inhabitants of these cities could not found a unified state. There was a great rivalry between the different polis, they considered that the small size of each one was the most appropriate to practice an adequate policy and economy.
