ABSTRACT
Up to a point one has to follow (but not necessarily to trust) the Zeitgeist. Ever since Ehrenberg’s seminal article When did the Polis Rise?’,1 various forms of the question have continually preoccupied Greek historians, and the question received a fresh impetus with two books in 1976 and with Moses Finley’s 1977 article on ‘The Ancient City from Fustel de Coulanges to Max Weber and Beyond’.2 The tempo has perceptibly quickened since then, both thematically, and via monographic histories of single cities, and via the resources and discussions which are currently going into the Copenhagen polis project. Such activity has been neither frivolous, nor fashion-led, nor repetitive: it seems to reflect, in very varied ways, a perception that Ehrenberg’s question is still a real one and still needs an answer.
