Polis (/ˈpɒlɪs/, US: /ˈpoʊlɪs/; Greek: πόλις, Ancient Greek pronunciation: [pólis]), plural poleis (/ˈpɒleɪz/, πόλεις, Ancient Greek pronunciation: [póleːs]), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also came to mean the body of citizens under a city's jurisdiction. In modern historiography, the term is normally used to refer to the ancient Greek city-states, such as Classical Athens and its contemporaries, and thus is often translated as "city-state". The poleis were not like other primordial ancient city-states like Tyre or Sidon, which were ruled by a king or a small oligarchy; rather, they were political entities ruled by their bodies of citizens. wikipedia 