Kome e polis in Tucidide

The study analyses the substance of the kome in Thucydides comparing it to his representation and vision of the polis. Since in the archaiologhia of the future Hellas, the polysemy of the polis stands out, whose visibility (phanerà opsis) and environmental conditionings (arete tes ghes vs. to leptogheon) are permeated of socio-political and economic features, anthropological and cultural nuances denoted by peculiar attitudes and behaviours (tropoi). As regards the centrality of the polis for Thucydides, evident in the marked disproportion of citations (849 loci against 10), it is remarkable that its mention appears before the kome, even at the time of the first settlements. In particular in the archaiologhia, the historian highlights for the poleis paths with various speeds and outcomes that include the abandonment or the collapse of the city, the choice of new locations, the surrender to persistent attacks and a mere subsistence economy, the willingness to gain in strength and power, through military effectiveness, emporia and prosodoi, the being stuck kata komas settlement as in the case of Sparta. In fact in the eyes of Thucydides, the kome smacks of old-fashioned both in the economic and socio-political terms, and it often lingers in autarkic or rapinose forms as among the Lokrians Ozolian, the Aetolians, the Akarnanians and other continental Greeks who practice even piracy (lesteia) and maintain the habit of wearing weapons