ΠΟΛΙΤΕΙΑ in Aristotle's Politica: An Annotated Catalogue

In this annotated catalogue of the 522 occurrences of the expression politeia in the Politics of Aristotle, I present my view of what Aristotle’s intent was in each occurrence—citizenship, citizen body, arrangement of offices or constitution, or regime—except where I find that the text is inexplicit. I have compared my results especially with the Sinclair-Saunders translation and occasionally with Bonitz’s Index Aristotelicus and with the translations of Jowett, Newman, Robinson, Saunders in the Clarendon Aristotle, and Simpson, along with other works. Aristotle’s treatment of the politeia sometimes has been connected with modern constitutionalism in the form of the written constitution or arrangement of offices. Writing a constitution or drawing up an arrangement of offices sometimes does not have the stabilizing effects for which the drafters and others occasionally hope. Readers of the Politics who use the catalogue will find that Aristotle had stability much on his mind and apparently understood that stability required more than a certain arrangement of offices or constitution in the current sense.