Polisabm: Modelling Polis Formation, Urban Systems and Social Complexity in the Eastern Mediterranean (1000-200 BCE)

Abstract

The polis is often considered one of the quintessential forms of community organisation in the Mediterranean world during the first millennium BCE. The spread of the polis as a Greek-style urban and political phenomenon from the Greek heartland of the Aegean to other parts of the Mediterranean and the Near East is often (implicitly) steeped in Hellenocentric and Eurocentric notions of cultural superiority. In this paper, polis formation is considered as a complex phenomenon characterised by interrelated processes of civic community formation, urbanism, territorialisation, production specialisation and integration of social, political and economic networks. I describe a conceptual model of polis formation based on general selection pressures and push-pull dynamics that can serve as a neutral starting point for future research. I then present the PolisABM agent-based model and use it to explore some of the ramifications of the theoretical assumptions of this conceptual model. I particularly focus on the role of population growth and fission-fusion dynamics as the main initial driving forces of settlement trajectories. In future work, this computational model will be fleshed out further to incorporate the role of poleis as central places in settlement networks and hierarchies. Once complete, the model will be used to empirically validate the conceptual model proposed here and compare settlement trajectories in regional case studies across the Mediterranean. This paper presents the first step towards the end goal of introducing formal computational approaches to the study of polis formation.