isopolity

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἰσοπολιτεία (isopoliteía), from ἰσοπολίτης (isopolítēs, “citizen with equal rights”), from ἴσος (ísos, “equal, same”) + πολίτης (polítēs, “citizen”).

Noun

isopolity (countable and uncountable, plural isopolities)

1. Equal rights of citizenship in different communities; mutual political rights.
   • 1832, Barthold Niebuhr, The History of Rome, volume 2:

     Isopolity...was a relation entered into by treaty between two perfectly equal and independent cities, mutually securing to their citizens all those privileges which a resident alien either could not exercise at all, or only through the mediation of a guardian; the right of intermarriage, of purchasing landed property, of making contracts of every kind, of suing and being sued in person, of being exempted from imposts [taxes] where citizens were so; and also of partaking in sacrifices and festivals.

   • 1911, Coleman Phillipson, The International Law and Custom of Ancient Greece and Rome, volume 1:

     A mutual exchange of the private rights of citizenship established the relationship of isopolity...and carried with it the right of intermarriage...and the right to hold land and houses...in each other's dominions.

   • 2004, Roger Bagnall, Peter Derow, The Hellenistic Period:

     A state of isopolity existed when the citizenship of one city was made equivalent to that of another, and vice versa.

Derived terms

• isopolitical

Related terms

• isopolite

References

• “isopolity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.