A pentapolis (from Greekπεντα-penta-, 'five' and πόλιςpolis, 'city') is a geographic and/or institutional grouping of five cities. Cities in the ancient world probably formed such groups for political, commercial and military reasons, as happened later with the Cinque Ports in England.
In the biblical Holy Land, Genesis 14 describes the region where five cities—Sodom, Gomorrah, Zoara, Admah and Zeboim—united to resist the invasion of Chedorlaomer, and of which four were shortly after destroyed.[1]
The Western Pentapolis of Cyrenaica: five main Greek colonies that came to be in the Roman province of Libya Superior, the western part of Cyrenaica until Diocletian's Tetrarchy reform in AD 296 (now Libya).[2] The most important was Cyrene and its port Apollonia, Ptolemais (the next capital after Cyrene's destruction by an earthquake), port of Barca (the later Arab provincial capital Barka), Teucheira (modern Tocra) and Berenice (modern Benghazi); also known as the Pentapolis inferior ("lower pentapolis"'). This is the Pentapolis that is referenced in the official title of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria and the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The Five Boroughs of New York City, which were separately governed city-counties until the 1874 and 1898 annexations.
The Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois (so named before the fifth city, Bettendorf, Iowa, grew in the mid-20th century) that share cultural institutions and infrastructure.
There are five qsur "walled villages" (ksour) located on rocky outcrops along the Oued Mzab collectively known as the Pentapolis, founded between 1012 and 1350.[5] They are: Ghardaïa (Tagherdayt), the principal settlement today; Beni Isguen (At Isjen); Melika (At Mlishet); Bounoura (At Bunur); and El Atteuf (Tajnint), the oldest of the five settlements.[6] Adding the more recent settlements of Bérianne and El Guerrara, the Mzab Heptapolis is completed.
^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pentapolis". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^"Pentapolis", Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia
^Hallenbeck, Jan T. (1982). "Pavia and Rome: The Lombard Monarchy and the Papacy in the Eighth Century". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 72 (4). Philadelphia: 1–186. doi:10.2307/1006429. JSTOR 1006429.
^Barron, James. "IF YOU'RE THINKING OF LIVING IN: FIVE TOWNS", The New York Times, July 10, 1983. Accessed May 20, 2008. "The basic five are Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Hewlett and Inwood. But the area also includes some unincorporated communities and two tiny villages, Hewlett Bay Park and Woodsburgh, that are not added to the final total."
^"M'Zab Valley". WHC. UNESCO. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
^Urwin, Simon (16 April 2021). "The fortified cities on the fringes of the Sahara". BBC Travel. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
References
Westermann Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte ('Great Atlas of World History', in German)