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what defines the archaic age of greece

by Bette Watsica Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago
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The term Ancient, or Archaic, Greece refers to the years 700-480 B.C., not the Classical Age (480-323 B.C.) known for its art, architecture and philosophy. Archaic Greece saw advances in art, poetry and technology, but is known as the age in which the polis, or city-state, was invented.Mar 5, 2010

What was daily life like in ancient Greece?

Daily Life In Ancient Greece – Facts For Kids. Just like Greece today, Ancient Greece had a warm and dry climate. Its major industries were farming, fishing, and trade. The Ancient Greeks worshipped gods and goddesses and had large, beautiful temples dedicated to them. The temples had stone columns and statues.

What are facts about ancient Greece?

Top 10 Facts About Ancient Greece

  1. Ancient Greece had lots of city-states. Ancient Greece was split up into lots of city states, some of which you might have heard of. ...
  2. Marathons came from Ancient Greek times! You’ve probably seen marathon races where you live or even on the television! ...
  3. About one third of the Ancient Greeks were slaves.

What was the beginning of ancient Greece?

First Settlers: Wandering tribes begin to settle in Greece: 1600 BCE: Mycenaean Greece: Bronze Age Greece was inhabited by the Mycenaean people. They took their name from the capital city of their land, Mycenae. 1194 BCE: Trojan War: The Trojan war between the Greeks and the Trojans (inhabitants of Troy) began

What is the culture of ancient Greece?

The Lives and Social Culture of Ancient Greece

  • Social Hierarchy. There were four main social classes of people within Athens. ...
  • Society. The city-state was the central part of ancient Greek life. ...
  • Education. The education of boys and girls varied greatly in ancient Greece. ...
  • Art. Greek art has had a tremendous influence on the world around us. ...
  • Religion. ...

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What was the Archaic Age of Greece?

Archaic Greece was the period in Greek history lasting from circa 800 BC to the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, following the Greek Dark Ages and succeeded by the Classical period.

What are the characteristics of archaic Greece?

During the Archaic period, Greek art became less rigidly stylized and more naturalistic. Paintings on vases evolved from geometric designs to representations of human figures, often illustrating epic tales.

What developments characterized the Archaic Age of Greece?

The Archaic period saw developments in Greek politics, economics, international relations, warfare, and culture. It also laid the groundwork for the classical period, both politically and culturally. During this time, the Greek alphabet developed, and the earliest surviving Greek literature was composed.

What was most important to the Greeks of the Archaic Age?

the creation of the polisThe Archaic Age was the era when major Greek political innovations took place. Of these, the most important was the creation of the polis (plural: poleis): a political unit centered on a city and including the surrounding lands.

What were the most important developments in the archaic age?

The Archaic Age was the era when major Greek political innovations took place. Of these, the most important was the creation of the polis (plural: poleis): a political unit centered on a city and including the surrounding lands.

What was the main characteristic of the Archaic Greek sculpture?

Ancient Greek sculpture is characterized by being the first deviation from typical standards of sculpture during that time period. They strove for realism, often seeking idealism in their sculptures, recreating the human figure as accurately and as perfect as possible.

What is the difference between Archaic and classical Greek art?

Artistic recognition also grew during the Classical period. Whereas the Archaic period pieces were focused on commemoration and uniformity, the individuality of the Classical period subjects made the artistic style more definitive.

Why is the early Archaic period called the Greek renaissance?

After 800 B.C. a new spirit of optimism and adventure began to appear in Greece. This spirit became so intensified that historians have called the period from 800-600 the Greek Renaissance.

How did the Archaic period begin?

The Archaic period in the Southwest begins with the end of the Paleoindian period and ends with the adoption of agriculture in the north and the advent of pottery in the south.

What are Archaic values?

1 belonging to or characteristic of a much earlier period; ancient. 2 out of date; antiquated. an archaic prison system. 3 (of idiom, vocabulary, etc.) characteristic of an earlier period of a language and not in ordinary use.

What type of government did the Archaic period have?

In the Dark Ages an aristocracy ruled Greece. Aristocracy means "rule of the best." People were born into the aristocracy, and these families controlled the polis at the early stages of the Archaic Period....»The Minoan Civilization»The Archaic Period»The Persian Wars»The Classical Period»The Peloponnesian Wars2 more rows

In what areas would you find Greeks in the Archaic period?

The Greek world of the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. consisted of numerous autonomous city-states, or poleis, separated one from the other by mountains and the sea. Greek settlements stretched all the way from the coast of Asia Minor and the Aegean islands, to mainland Greece, Sicily, North Africa, and even Spain.

What is the typical archaic Greek sculpture?

In the Archaic Period the most important sculptural form was the kouros (See for example Biton and Kleobis).

What are the characteristics of classical Greek art?

Ancient Greek art has as main characteristic have a high aesthetic idealism, is not a natural and direct reality representation, but an idyllic and perfect vision of the artistic mind instead, that is perceived and depicted by them in their different artwork platforms.

Which style of art do we associate with the Archaic period of Greece?

The two most prominent art forms of Archaic period art were Archaic sculpture and pottery. Sculpture and adorned pottery flourished throughout the Archaic period in Greece, notably vases in red and black styles.

In what areas would you find Greeks in the Archaic period?

The Greek world of the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. consisted of numerous autonomous city-states, or poleis, separated one from the other by mountains and the sea. Greek settlements stretched all the way from the coast of Asia Minor and the Aegean islands, to mainland Greece, Sicily, North Africa, and even Spain.

What was the end of the Archaic Age?

Following the Archaic Age was the Classical Age. The Archaic Age ended either after the Pisistratid tyrants (Peisistratus [Pisistratus] and his sons) or the Persian Wars .

What was the dark age in Greece?

Shortly after the Trojan War, Greece fell into a dark age about which we know little. With the return of literacy at the beginning of the 8th century, BCE came the end of the dark age and the start of what is called the Archaic Age. In addition to the literary work of the composer of the Iliad and the Odyssey (known as Homer, ...

What was the Greek expansion?

Greek Expansion. The Archaic Age was a time of expansion. Greeks from the mainland set out to settle the Ionian coast. There they had contact with the novel ideas of Native populations in Asia Minor.

Where does the word "archaic" come from?

Archaic comes from the Greek arche = beginning (as in "In the beginning was the word....").

Who wrote down the oral laws of Athens?

In Athens, Draco wrote down what had previously been oral laws, the foundations of democracy emerged, tyrants came to power, and, as some families left the small self-sufficient farms to try their lot in an urban area, the polis (city-state) began.

What were the two poleis of the Archaic Age?

The two poleis were in many ways a study in contrasts: an obsessively militaristic and inward-looking society of “equals” who controlled the largest slave society in Greece, and a cosmopolitan naval power at the forefront of political innovation.

When did the Greek Dark Age end?

The Greek Dark Age started to end around 800 BCE. The subsequent period of Greek history, from around 800 BCE – 490 BCE, is referred to as the “Archaic” (meaning “old”) Age. The Archaic Age saw the re-emergence of sustained contact with foreign cultures, starting with the development of Greek colonies on the Greek islands and on the western coast of Anatolia; this region is called Ionia, with its Greek inhabitants speaking a dialect of Greek called Ionian. These Greeks reestablished long-distance trade routes, most importantly with the Phoenicians, the great traders and merchants of the Iron Age. Eventually, foreign-made goods and cultural contacts started to flow back to Greece once again.

How did the Bronze Age affect Greece?

Of all the regions and cultures affected by the collapse of the Bronze Age, Greece was among those hit hardest. First and foremost, foreign trade declined dramatically. Whereas the Mycenaeans had been seafaring traders, their descendants were largely limited to local production and trade. Agriculture reverted to subsistence levels, and trade with neighboring areas all but vanished. In turn, this reversion to local subsistence economies cut them off from important sources of nutrition and materials for daily life, as well as foreign ideas and cultural influences. The Greeks went from being a great traveling and trading culture to one largely isolated from its neighbors. The results were devastating: some scholarly estimates are that the population of Greece declined by as much as 90% in the centuries following the Bronze Age collapse.

What was the military development of Greece?

A key military development unique to Greece was the phalanx: a unit of spearmen standing in a dense formation, with each using his shield to protect the man to his left. Each soldier in a phalanx was called a hoplite. Each hoplite had to be a free Greek citizen of his polis and had to be able to pay for his own weapons and armor. He also had to be able to train and drill regularly with his fellow hoplites, since maneuvering in the densely-packed phalanx required a great deal of practice and coordination. The hoplites were significant politically because they were not always aristocrats, despite the fact that they had to be free citizens capable of paying for their own arms. Because they defended the poleis and proved extremely effective on the battlefield, the hoplites would go on to demand better political representation, something that would have a major impact on Greek politics as a whole.

Why did the Mycenaeans vanish?

One strong possibility is that there was a sustained civil war among the Mycenaean palace-settlements that resulted in a fatal disruption to the economic setting that was essential to their very existence. A bad enough war in Greece itself could have easily undermined harvests, already near a subsistence level, and when they were destroyed by these conflicts, towns, fortresses and palaces could not be rebuilt. Whatever the cause, the decline of the Mycenaeans occurred around 1100 BCE, marking the beginning of what historians refer to as the Dark Age in Greek history.

How did the Greeks influence the world?

That being noted, the Greeks were unquestionably historically important and influential. They can be justly credited with creating forms of political organization and approaches to learning that were and remain hugely influential. Among other things, the Greeks carried out the first experiments in democratic government, invented a form of philosophy and learning concerned with empirical observation and rationality, created forms of drama like comedy and tragedy, and devised the method of researching and writing history itself. It is thus useful and productive to consider the history of ancient Greece even if the conceit that other forms of ancient history are less important is abandoned.

Why were Greek colonies important?

Greek colonies far from Greece were as important as the older poleis in Greece itself, since they created a common Greek civilization across the entire Mediterranean world. Greek civilization was not an empire united by a single ruler or government. Instead, it was united by culture rather than a common leadership structure. That culture would go on to influence all of the cultures to follow in a vast swath of territory throughout the Mediterranean region and the Middle East.

When was the Archaic Age?

The Archaic Age of Greece in the period of 800-500 B.C. followed on from around 400 years in the Dark Ages and lead to city states such as Athens, Corinth and Sparta forming .....

What was the name of the city states that were created during the Archaic Age?

The Archaic Age of Greece sees the development of small city states such as Athens, Corinth and Sparta, with Monarchic rule was abolished in favour of a form of government headed by aristrocrats.

What is the Archaic Age?

Archaic Age Greece: Foundation of Classical Civilization. We are all familiar with the achievements of Classical Greece. The era produced great art, philosophies, and political systems that still influence us to this day. However, the Classical period was born out of the Archaic period, dating from the 8 th century BC until ...

What was the political system of the Archaic Age?

The Politics of the Archaic Age. While rural Greece was controlled by elites, in the cities — due to the breakdown of tribes and clans — classes emerged. This doesn’t mean that the rich, who were often members of the old aristocracy, didn’t try to dominate the polis.

What was the importance of the Archaic period?

The Archaic period was crucial to the civilization of Greece. It was a time that saw the emergence of Hellenic literature and art. The growth of cities transformed the lives of people and led to the development of politics and the law. The Greek military saw innovation and expansion, and the Greeks colonized many parts of the Mediterranean. What they achieved in the Archaic Age laid the foundations not only for the glories and achievements of Classical Greece, but also that of the modern world.

What cities were developed during the Archaic period?

Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and Sparta all developed as cities during the Archaic period. Increasingly, the inhabitants of the new cities saw themselves as citizens of the polis, instead of identifying with a tribe or clan. This new urban lifestyle produced important cultural and social changes.

What were the key developments of the Archaic period?

The Growth of Cities. One of the key developments of the Archaic period was urbanization. The Greek polis, literally “city,” came into being. In some places, such as Athens, the polis was the result of several communities coming together. The polis led to the development of the city-state.

Why did the Greeks set out to colonize?

The Age of Colonization. Due to overpopulation, many Greeks were obliged to look for new lands. Colonists set out to look for new opportunities , and Greek outposts were soon established in the Black Sea area and as far as Spain.

What was the first dramatic performance in Athens?

Lyric poetry also emerged, with Sappho and Pindar leading the way. In the 6 th century BC, poetry contests in honor of the god of wine led to the first dramatic performances in Athens. It was during the Archaic period that Greek literature began and in which some of its greatest works were produced.

What is the Archaic period?

Archaic period, in history and archaeology, the earliest phases of a culture; the term is most frequently used by art historians to denote the period of artistic development in Greece from about 650 to 480 bc, the date of the Persian sack of Athens. During the Archaic period, Greek art became less rigidly stylized ...

What was the art style of the Archaic period?

During the Archaic period, Greek art became less rigidly stylized and more naturalistic. Paintings on vases evolved from geometric designs to representations of human figures, often illustrating epic tales. In sculpture, faces were animated with the characteristic “Archaic smile,” and bodies were rendered with a growing attention to human proportion and anatomy. The development of the Doric and Ionic orders of architecture in the Archaic period also reflected a growing concern with harmonious architectural proportions.

What is the period of ancient Greece?

Periodization has traditionally divided the history of ancient Greece into the Bronze Age (c. 3000–1100 BCE ), the Iron Age (c. 1100–750 BCE ), the Archaic Age (c. 750–479 BCE ), the Classical Age (479–323 BCE ), and the Hellenistic Age (323–30 BCE ).

What is the Greek culture?

Greek culture continued to flourish for centuries after the Roman conquest and influenced the civilizations of Byzantium and the Muslim world. Today the Greek presence can be read in much of the vocabulary of Western languages and seen in the public buildings of Europe and the Americas. Periodization has traditionally divided the history ...

What were the achievements of the Greeks?

The accomplishments of the ancient Greeks were remarkable. Without rich natural resources and hobbled by their endemic inability to stop fighting with one another, the Greek city-states nonetheless spread their civilization from Spain in the west to Pakistan in the east. It was in Greece that democracy first took root, and it was the Greeks who gave to the West many canonical forms of sculpture and architecture. Though the Greeks were eventually conquered politically by the Romans, their culture, as the Roman poet Horace pointed out, came out victorious: “Captive Greece took Rome, her captor, captive.” Greek culture continued to flourish for centuries after the Roman conquest and influenced the civilizations of Byzantium and the Muslim world. Today the Greek presence can be read in much of the vocabulary of Western languages and seen in the public buildings of Europe and the Americas. Periodization has traditionally divided the history of ancient Greece into the Bronze Age (c. 3000–1100 BCE ), the Iron Age (c. 1100–750 BCE ), the Archaic Age (c. 750–479 BCE ), the Classical Age (479–323 BCE ), and the Hellenistic Age (323–30 BCE ). Where archaeology is concerned, material remains, including inscriptions, continue to be discovered and to provide new fruit for analysis. In terms of literary texts, however, very little new evidence has come to light in recent centuries. New interpretations, therefore, are frequently the product of bringing new skills to bear on old evidence. Often these tools of analysis are adapted from fields such as anthropology, sociology, political science, and gender studies. On the whole, changing views of the Archaic Age are grounded in applying these tools to material remains, as very little that was written in this time period survives. A tremendous amount of writing, however, has survived from the Classical Age, and in total the database of Greek literary texts written down from the late 8th century BCE through the 2nd century CE contains 20 million words.

What is the purpose of the smaller volume of Archaeology?

This smaller volume is at once an analysis of archaeology's place within the field of classical studies and an appeal for archaeologists to widen their scope to include more recent theory as well as rural Greece within their studies.

What is Sicily's rich heritage?

Traces Sicily's rich heritage from the Palaeolithic to the late Roman period, working with a wide variety of kinds of material evidence. Includes treatment of coinage.

What is the history of Ancient Greece?

Ancient Greek history is most easily understood by dividing it into time periods. The region was already settled, and agriculture initiated, during the Paleolithic era as evidenced by finds at Petralona and Franchthi caves ( two of the oldest human habitations in the world ).

What was the Neolithic Age?

6000 - c. 2900 BCE) is characterized by permanent settlements (primarily in northern Greece), domestication of animals, and the further development of agriculture.

What happened to the Mycenaean civilization?

By 1100 BCE, around the time of the Bronze Age Collapse, the great Mycenaean cities of southwest Greece were abandoned and, some claim , their civilization destroyed by an invasion of Doric Greeks. Archaeological evidence is inconclusive as to what led to the fall of the Mycenaeans.

What percentage of Greece is covered by mountains?

Mountains cover 80 percent of Greece and only small rivers run through a rocky landscape which, for the most part, provides little encouragement for agriculture. Consequently, the early ancient Greeks colonized neighboring islands and founded settlements along the coast of Anatolia (also known as Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey ).

What is the mainland of Greece?

Advertisement. Mainland Greece is a large peninsula surrounded on three sides by the Mediterranean Sea (branching into the Ionian Sea in the west and the Aegean Sea in the east) which also comprises the islands known as the Cyclades and the Dodecanese (including Rhodes ), the Ionian islands (including Corcyra ), the isle of Crete, ...

When did the Roman Republic become a province of Greece?

The Roman Republic became increasingly involved in the affairs of Greece during this time and, in 168 BCE, defeated Macedon at the Battle of Pydna. After this date, Greece steadily came under the influence of Rome. In 146 BCE, the region was designated a Protectorate of Rome and Romans began to emulate Greek fashion, philosophy and, to a certain extent, sensibilities. In 31 BCE Octavian Caesar annexed the country as a province of Rome following his victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium. Octavian became Augustus Caesar and Greece a part of the Roman Empire.

When did the Classical Period begin?

This, then, set the stage for the flourishing of the Classical Period of ancient Greece given as 500-400 BCE or, more precisely, as 480-323 BCE, from the Greek victory at the Battle of Salamis to the death of Alexander the Great.

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Rise of The Polis

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During the Archaic Age, previously isolated communities came into increased contact with one another. Soon the communities joined to celebrate the panhellenic (all-Greek) games. At this time, the monarchy (celebrated in the Iliad) gave way to aristocracies. In Athens, Draco wrote down what had previously been oral laws, th…
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Economy

  • While the city had marketplaces, business and trade were considered corrupting. Think: "Love of money is the root of all evil." An exchange was necessary to fulfill the needs for family, friends, or community. It was not simply for profit. The ideal was to live self-sufficiently on a farm. Standards for proper behavior for citizens made them consider some tasks degrading. Enslaved people we…
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Greek Expansion

  • The Archaic Age was a time of expansion. Greeks from the mainland set out to settle the Ionian coast. There they had contact with the novel ideas of Native populations in Asia Minor. Certain Milesian colonistsbegan to question the world around them, to look for a pattern in life or cosmos, thereby becoming the first philosophers.
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New Art Forms

  • When the Greeks found (or invented) the 7-string lyre, they produced a new music to accompany it. We know some of the words they sang in the new ic mode from the fragments written by such poets as Sappho and Alcaeus, both from the island of Lesbos. At the beginning of the Archaic age, statues imitated the Egyptian, appearing rigid and immobile, but by the end of the period an…
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End of The Archaic Age

  • Following the Archaic Age was the Classical Age. The Archaic Age ended either after the Pisistratid tyrants (Peisistratus [Pisistratus] and his sons) or the Persian Wars.
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Historians of The Archaic and Classical Period

  1. Herodotus
  2. Plutarch
  3. Strabo
  4. Pausanias
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Overview

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Many Western Civilization textbooks begin with the ancient Greeks. As noted in the introduction of this book, however, there are some problems with taking that approach, most importantly the fact that starting with the Greeks overlooks the fact that the Greeks did not invent the essential elements of civilization itself. That bei…
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The Greek Dark Age

  • During the Bronze Age, as described in the last chapter, the Minoans and Mycenaeans were two of the civilizations that were part of the international trade and diplomacy network of the Mediterranean and Middle East. The Minoans were a major seafaring civilization based on the island of Crete. They created huge palace complexes, magnificent artwork, and great wealth. Th…
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The Archaic Age and Greek Values

  • The Greek Dark Age started to end around 800 BCE. The subsequent period of Greek history, from around 800 BCE – 490 BCE, is referred to as the “Archaic” (meaning “old”) Age. The Archaic Age saw the re-emergence of sustained contact with foreign cultures, starting with the development of Greek colonies on the Greek islands and on the western coast o...
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Greek Culture and Trade

  • The Greek poleis were each distinct, fiercely proud of their own identity and independence, and they frequently fought small-scale wars against one another. Even as they did so, they recognized each other as fellow Greeks and therefore as cultural equals. All Greeks spoke mutually intelligible dialects of the Greek language. All Greeks worshiped the same pantheon of gods. All Greeks sha…
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Military Organization and Politics

  • A key military development unique to Greece was the phalanx: a unit of spearmen standing in a dense formation, with each using his shield to protect the man to his left. Each soldier in a phalanx was called a hoplite. Each hoplite had to be a free Greek citizen of his polis and had to be able to pay for his own weapons and armor. He also had to be able to train and drill regularly wit…
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Sparta and Athens

  • Two of the most memorable poleis of the Archaic Age were Sparta and Athens. The two poleis were in many ways a study in contrasts: an obsessively militaristic and inward-looking society of “equals” who controlled the largest slave society in Greece, and a cosmopolitan naval power at the forefront of political innovation.
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Conclusion

  • Greece managed to develop its unique political institutions and culture as part of a larger Mediterranean “world,” trading with, raiding, and settling alongside many of the other civilizations of the Iron Age. For centuries, Greece itself was too remote, geographically, and too poor, in terms of natural resources, to tempt foreign invaders to try to seize control. Starting in the sixth centur…
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1.Archaic Greece - Wikipedia

Url:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaic_Greece

31 hours ago The subsequent period of Greek history, from around 800 BCE – 490 BCE, is referred to as the “Archaic” (meaning “old”) Age. The Archaic Age saw the re-emergence of sustained contact …

2.Chapter 4: The Archaic Age of Greece - NSCC

Url:https://pressbooks.nscc.ca/worldhistory/chapter/chapter-4-the-archaic-age-of-greece/

14 hours ago The term Ancient, or Archaic, Greece refers to the years 700-480 B.C., not the Classical Age (480-323 B.C.) known for its art, architecture and philosophy. Archaic Greece saw advances in art, …

3.The Archaic Age of Greece | Greek History Guide

Url:https://www.aroundgreece.net/history/archaic-age/

28 hours ago The Archaic Age of Greece sees the development of small city states such as Athens, Corinth and Sparta, with Monarchic rule was abolished in favour of a form of government headed by …

4.Archaic Age Greece: Foundation of Classical Civilization

Url:https://classicalwisdom.com/culture/history/archaic-age-greece-foundation-of-classical-civilization/

15 hours ago  · Periodization has traditionally divided the history of ancient Greece into the Bronze Age (c. 3000–1100 BCE), the Iron Age (c. 1100–750 BCE), the Archaic Age (c. 750–479 BCE), …

5.Archaic period | art history | Britannica

Url:https://www.britannica.com/art/Archaic-period

23 hours ago  · The Archaic Period (800-500 BCE) is characterized by the introduction of republics instead of monarchies (which, in Athens, moved toward democratic rule) organized as a single …

6.Greek History: Archaic to Classical Age - Classics - obo

Url:https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195389661/obo-9780195389661-0021.xml

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7.Ancient Greece - World History Encyclopedia

Url:https://www.worldhistory.org/greece/

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