By focusing both on the various historical variants of sovereignty as well as its different systematic aspects, it is argued that there is no such thing as the one true concept of sovereignty, neither for our contemporary word nor to be applied to or rejected for the ancient word. Henceforth, three aspects are discussed: the external sovereignty of entities, the internal sovereignty of political institutions and, finally, the different relationships between governance-actors. Within every aspect, different facets of the term sovereignty are explored with reference to both Greek and Roman history. The aim is not, however, to simply argue for the applicability of the term, but to show the respective fruitful use of each aspect, which can highlight otherwise overlooked aspects in the ancient world or emphasise differences that can then be further explored.