what is a citystate?

Question

for the sparta and the athens!

Answer 1

A "city state" is a sovereign, independent city, like Singapore, Monaco or Vatican City.

"A city-state is a region controlled exclusively by a city, usually having sovereignty. Historically, city-states have often been part of larger cultural areas, as in the city-states of ancient Greece (such as Athens, Sparta and Corinth), the Phoenician cities of Canaan (such as Tyre and Sidon), the Mayans of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica (including sites such as Chichen Itza and El Mirador), the central Asian cities along the Silk Road (which includes Samarkand and Bukhara), or the city-states of Northern Italy (especially Florence and Venice)."

"City-state" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_state

Answer 2

A citystate is a city whose government does more than just attend to issues regarding the town. It also has formal military and economic pacts with other states; raises, trains and pays its own military, and has diplomatic relations with others. You named the two most famous ones in history; though there were also Corinth, Thebes, to name just two more large ones. Today the best examples of citystates are San Remo, and the Vatican.