Callipolis
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Plato's The Republic presents a critical view of democracy through the narration of Socrates: "Democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequaled alike." In his work, Plato lists 5 forms of government from best to worst. Assuming that the Republic was intended to be a serious critique of the political thought in Athens, Plato argues that only Callipolis, an aristocracy led by the unwilling philosopher kings (the wisest men), is a just form of government. The contrast between Plato's theory of philosopher-kings, arresting change, and Aristotle's embrace of change, is the historical tension espoused by Karl Popper in his WWII treatise, The Open Society and Its Enemies (1943)." --Sholem Stein |
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Callipolis is the commonly used Latinized form of Kallipolis (from kalos and polis), the Greek name of several ancient cities, notably:
- Kallipolis in Caria
- Kallipolis, a Hellespont-port on the Thracian Chersonesus, the modern Gallipoli
- Callipolis in Calabria, southern Italy, a port on a peninsula into the Tarentine Gulf, which was granted by the Roman republic the status of Socii
The kallipolis is also the word Plato uses for his ideal city in his dialogue The Republic.
- In Greek mythology, Callipolis was a son of Alcathous, son of Pelops
Sources and references
- Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in German)
See also
