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1.3 Archaic Greece 700B.C-480 B.C.

Hi guys. This is the third part of Chapter One: the Archaic Greece.

Archaic Greece 700B.C-480 B.C.

1. Archaic Greece was the period in Ancient Greek history following the Dark Age, from the eighth century BC to the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC. There was a series of significant changes and developments in politics, economy, warfare, and culture. It laid a solid foundation for the Classical period, the greatest period of the ancient Greece.

Greek population doubled during the eighth century. This population increase brought more people changed their life from herding animals to agriculture, and it also brought more people moving to cities, The Archaic period saw significant urbanization.

Polis - city state

Greek city-states emerged along with population increase and urbanization. What polis means? We call New York a metropolis that means a very large city, Polis means city in Greek. When we talk about the ancient Greece “polis” is often translated as "city-state". For purpose of defense many city-states built an acropolis, meaning a highest city on a hill to protect the city. It is a fortification or citadel, a strong building where people could shelter for safety. The most important building in an acropolis is temple of god. This is the Acropolis of Athens; you can see the Parthenon, a temple to the goddess Athena.

2. Colonization

In the eighth and seventh centuries BC, Greeks began to migrate to new lands across the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. The earliest Greek colonies were on Sicily. Then the southern Italy and expanded to the west and east. These colonies were not dependent on their mother-city, they were new independent city-states. There were three reasons of colonization: to relive the population pressure, to find new settlements and also for trade.

As we mentioned before, the Linear B writing of the Greek language from the Bronze Age disappeared in the Dark Age. During the early 8th century BC, Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet. This is Phoenicia. Greeks made some changes and developed the writing system of the

3. Greek alphabet. It has 24 letters, ordered from alpha to omega. This why “alpha and omega” means the beginning and the end, like in the Bible God says, “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.” Greek alphabet played an important role in the development of the Western languages; it is the ancestor of the Latin alphabet.

4. Military developments

In the 8th or 7th century BC, Greek armies adopted a military innovation known as the phalanx formation. Phalanx was formed by citizen-soldiers of the city-states, these soldiers were called Hoplites. Hoplites were infantrymen, not on the horse back, they primarily armed with spears and shields, and they were well disciplined.

5. New styles in Pottery

In the Dark Ages, Greek pottery normally decorated by geometrical patterns. In the Archaic Greece there was a shift in the art of pottery, decoration of pottery changed gradually from abstract to human figures. At the beginning of the seventh century BC, the black figure style vases emerged in Corinth. What is the black figure style? Human figures were painted in black silhouettes; silhouette is the outline on an object. In Athens the red figure pottery was invented around 520 BC and soon became the dominant style and replaced the black figure. What is the red figure? Human figures were painted in red on a black background.

6. Three cities: there were many city states, the three famous cities are: Corinth, Sparta, Athens.

7. Wealthy Corinth

One of the reasons for the prosperity of Corinth is its location. It located on a rich coastal plain and 6.3 kilometers wide narrow isthmus connecting the Peloponnesus and the Greek mainland. An isthmus is a narrow piece of land, it like a bridge connecting two large areas of land. Periander, a tyrant tried to dig a cannel but failed, at last he built a simple and stone road, along this road ships could be towed from the Aegean Sea to the Gulf of Corinth from there ships could sail to the Ionian Sea. This portage road became a major source of wealth of Corinth. Until the late 19th century a cannel was finally built.

Cypselus was the first tyrant of Corinth in the 7th century BC who ruled for three decades. What is a tyrant? A tyrant is a ruler who had seized power without legal right and ruled in a cruel and oppressive way. Cypselus was succeeded by his son Periander. He built the portage road in the Isthmus of Corinth and made Corinth one of the wealthiest city states in Greece. Plato listed Periander as one of the Seven Wise Men. He died in 585 BC, a revolt killed his son and a new government called oligarchy ruled Corinth until it was conquered by Macedonia in 338 BC. Oligarchy is a political system governed by a few people.

8. Martial Sparta

War was the center of life in Sparta; it conquered the fertile region of Messenia. Around 650 BC Sparta became the dominant military land-power. Sparta was a two-tiered society: warriors and state serfs, and Sparta was an oligarchy. The state was ruled by two hereditary kings and a council of elders which has 30 members, at least 60 years old. The largest population in Sparta was the state serfs called helots; a helot is an unfree man above slaves owned by the state. In Sparta, new babies should be examined by officials, if a baby was judged not healthy, not strong enough he or she would be abandoned to a hillside to die. All boys have to join the military training. At the age 7, they have to live in the barrack, the military training camp. Each one had only one cloak, a long, loose, sleeveless piece of clothing. They slept on a thin rush mat. They were encouraged to steal food but would be severely whipped if they were caught, not for the stealing but for the failure. He could get married at age 20 but not allowed to live with his wife until at age of 30 finally become a citizen. This is why all Spartans citizens are brave worries, and this is why Spartans had a reputation of courage, rough and simple life and service to the states.

9. Key words: Archaic Greece, Polis - city states, Phalanx and Hoplites, Isthmus of Corinth, Sparta, Tyrant and Oligarchy