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Definition 2024


synoecism

synoecism

See also: synœcism

English

Alternative forms

Noun

synoecism (plural synoecisms)

  1. (Ancient Greece) The unification of towns, tribes etc. under one capital city or polis.
    • 1886, English History Review, 1886, I, pg 636.
      They always remained separate states and were never synoikised.
    • 1887, Andrew Lang, Myth, Ritual & Religion, I, pg 266.
      Legends...current before the villages were synoecised into Athens.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. XXX. 529/2.
      When the town was first formed...by the synœcism of the neighboring villages.

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