Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• major points that typify the Archaic Age: – The formation of the city-state (polis)
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• major points that typify the Archaic Age: – The formation of the city-state (polis)– Colonization
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• major points that typify the Archaic Age: – The formation of the city-state (polis)– Colonization– Evolution of warfare
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• major points that typify the Archaic Age: – The formation of the city-state (polis)– Colonization– Evolution of warfare– Panhellenism
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• major points that typify the Archaic Age: – The formation of the city-state (polis)– Colonization– Evolution of warfare– Panhellenism
• And also some notes on citizenship and the art and literature of the period
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• 1. The growth of the city-state (polis)– =central city and its surrounding territory• Remember that “DEMOS” is the land and the people,
the territorial community of the Dark Age• Two bodies of government already formed in that
period: the assembly (men of fighting age) and the council of “elders”• But formal political unification of the demos did not yet
exist• Central government had not come into power
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• 1. The growth of the city-state (polis)– Political unification (Synoecism)
• Unites the households of the central town and those of the territory around it in a formal, identifying statehood
• SYN + OIKOS + ISMOS
– Government• Aristocratic: basileis• Variations on a common theme:
– Eliminate the dominant basileus– Distribute power among other aristocrats– Increase power of aristocratic council of elders (over against
assembly of people)
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• 1. The growth of the city-state (polis)– Government• Aristocratic: basileis• Variations on a common theme:
– Eliminate the dominant basileus– Distribute power among other aristocrats– Increase power of aristocratic council of elders (over against
assembly of people)
• The opposite of this trend, again from within, is the periodic shift to TYRANNY in Archaic poleis– Usually moves toward a democracy one strongman at a time
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• 1. The growth of the city-state (polis)– Government (cont.)
• Necessary due to changing conditions (population, war)• Not the same everywhere (cf. Sparta)• Magistracies created (define oligarchy)
– Various functions, various titles: archon, basileus, polemarch, prytanis, etc.
• Boule (council) has the power in Archaic Greece• Ecclesia (assembly) is handicapped by the weight of
aristocratic elders in boule• Political history in many parts of Greece will see the struggle
for increased power won by the assembly
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• 2. Colonization– Spain to Colchis, 800-500– Two major needs fed by colonization:• 1. import goods (especially metals)• 2. territory for increased population, to find and found
good land for new poleis
– Apoikia: colonies and metropolis
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• 2. Colonization– Spain to Colchis, 800-500– Two major needs fed by colonization:• 1. import goods (especially metals)• 2. territory for increased population, to find and found
good land for new poleis
– Apoikia: colonies and metropolis– Addresses distribution of space and wealth – but
only partly
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• A note on classes and citizenship– Basically three classes in Archaic Greece:
• The 20% at the top: aristocrats on inherited land, many in the cash crop business (wine and olives)
• The 30% at the very bottom: poorest of the citizen farmers, many of whom end up sharecropping or mortgaging their kleros (ancestral lot) and paying for it with crops from the land (rank as thetes)
• The 50% in the middle – the “middling man” – survive, not wealthy, but not dependent on the rich
• Gradations throughout• Division defined as AGATHOI and KAKOI (cf. hoi polloi)
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• A note on classes and citizenship– Poverty is difficult• Working for someone else = loss of freedom• Slaves at least have protection of oikos; what does a
poor farmer have?• Various epithets denote the landless class, the poorest
farmers:– Argos: “naked ones”– Corinth: “wearers of dog-skin helmets”– Sicyon: “wearers of sheep-skins”– Epidaurus: “dusty feet”
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• A note on classes and citizenship– Poverty is difficult• Worse case were “between free person and slave” – Cf.
helots• Worst case (measured by freedom and ability to be
socially mobile) were slaves: no freedom, simply property
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• A note on classes and citizenship– Citizenship does not denote equality• Women do not have any political power• Men (18 and older) had rights, but based on money
and social standing• Property requirements kept most but the rich out of
office, even some out of the assembly• Again, history will unfold as struggle in many poleis for
democracy, but will not be achieved in other places
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• A note on classes and citizenship– Women are still important• Share priesthoods with men• Stability of household• What did 50% of the ENTIRE population do all day?
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• A note on classes and citizenship– Women are still important• Share priesthoods with men• Stability of household• What did 50% of the ENTIRE population do all day?
– A picture of anxieties about the rise of the polis and the incumbent discussion of citizenship: HESIOD
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• 3. Warfare– The hoplite army• Heavily armored:
social and economic reality?
– The phalanx• A picture of equality
Archaic Greece: 700-480bc
• 4. Panhellenism– Oracle at Delphi– Zeus’ sanctuary at Olympia– Games and other religious festivals– Trade– Instruments of war and peace– Oikos – demos – polis – amphictyony – ethne – all
one Greek thing, but still 100’s of little city-states– By the end of the Archaic period, the two most
powerful ones were SPARTA and ATHENS