Polis (; ), plural poleis (, ) literally means "city" in Greek. It defined the administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. It can also signify a body of citizens. In modern historiography, "polis" is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, such as Classical Athens and its contemporaries, and thus is often translated as "city-state". These cities consisted of a fortified city centre ("asty") built on an acropolis or harbour and controlled surrounding territories of land ("khôra").