History of the Archaic Era of Ancient Greece

Experience the Archaic Era of Ancient Greece with WisdomMaps: The Future of the Past!

Perspective

The history of the Archaic era of ancient Greece spans the period in Greek history lasting from about 800 BC to the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC. It followed the Greek Dark Ages and was succeeded by the Classical period. In the Archaic era, Greeks settled across the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, as far as Marseille in the west and Trapezus in the east. And by the end of the Archaic Age, they were part of a trade network that spanned the entire Mediterranean.

The Archaic era began with a massive increase in the Greek population and of significant changes that rendered the Greek world at the end of the 8th century entirely unrecognizable from its beginning. The Archaic era was bounded by two revolutions in the Greek world. It began with a structural revolution that drew the political map of the Greek world and established the poleis, the distinctively Greek city-states, and it ended with the intellectual revolution of the Classical Era.

The Archaic era saw developments in Greek politics, economics, international relations, warfare and culture. It laid the groundwork for the Classical era, both politically and culturally. And it was in the archaic era that the Greek alphabet developed, the earliest surviving Greek literature was composed, monumental sculpture and red-figure pottery was created, and the hoplite became the core of Greek armies.

In Athens, the earliest institutions of democracy were implemented under Solon, and the reforms of Cleisthenes at the end of the Archaic era brought in Athenian democracy as it was during the Classical period. In Sparta, many of the institutions credited to the reforms of Lycurgus were introduced, the region of Messenia was brought under Spartan control, helot slavery was introduced, and the Peloponnesian League was founded and made Sparta a dominant power in Greece.

Sample map

Here’s a look…

Expansion of Athens

… and here’s a look at what you’re missing. 😕 Subscribe now for access to the entire WisdomMaps collection: more than 3,000 mind maps on all the world’s history and cultures. It’s the best education you’ve never had!