Archaic Greece

Варнаков М.С.

The Archaic period in the history of Greece (Ancient Greek: ἀρχαῖος - ancient) is a term adopted by historians since the 18th century. It emerged during the study of Greek art and initially referred to the stage of development of Ancient Greek art, primarily in the fields of visual arts and crafts, from 750 to 480 BCE, between the Geometric style period and the art of Classical Greece. Later, the term "Archaic period" was expanded to include not only the history of art but also the social life of Greece. During this period, which followed the "Dark Ages," significant developments were observed in political theory, the rise of democracy, philosophy, theater, poetry, and the revival of written language (the emergence of the Greek alphabet to replace the forgotten Linear B script of the "Dark Ages").

At the end of the 20th century, the term "archaic" was criticized: Anthony Snodgrass points out that it is incorrect to consider this period as a "preparation" for the classical era — it was an independent episode of Greek history with its own developed culture, and Michael Grant notes that "archaic" implies a certain primitiveness, while archaic Greece was one of the most fruitful periods in world history.

According to Snodgrass, the beginning of the Archaic period should be marked by the sharp population growth (the population of Greece increased tenfold) and material prosperity (the level of material production in Hellas and Greek colonies was undoubtedly the most impressive based on the artifacts found). Its peak came around 750 BCE, along with an "intellectual revolution" in Greek culture. The end of the Archaic period is considered to be the invasion of Xerxes in 480 BCE. However, certain cultural events associated with the Archaic period could extend beyond these conventional chronological boundaries. For example, red-figure vase painting, characteristic of the Classical period of Greece, emerged during the Archaic period.

Periodization:

• Early Archaic Period - early 8th century BCE to the 570s BCE

• Mature Archaic Period - 570s BCE to the 525s BCE

• Late Archaic Period - 525s BCE to the 490s BCE

Mycenaean Greece was divided into kingdoms, where the population lived in cities and large estates owned by the nobility. The kingdoms were ruled by kings who claimed divine origins and governed from the capitals, known as "poleis," where palaces or citadel-acropolises ("high cities") were located. These citadels were built on the highest hills in the area for the purpose of effective defense. During the Dark Ages, palaces, kings, and estates ceased to exist, the population decreased, cities were abandoned or turned into villages amidst ruins, and more primitive forms of power in the form of tribal structures replaced royal bureaucracy.

The sharp population growth at the beginning of the Archaic period led to a return to an urban way of life, the foundation of new cities, and the expansion of existing centers.

Margalit Finkelberg dedicated her research to the inheritance customs of legendary and historical kings in pre-classical Greece, where inheritance from father to son was not the norm. Instead, a different custom existed: a new king, usually exiled from another royal lineage, acquired his right to become the "son-in-law" of the previous king, which was legitimized by marriage to his "daughter" (a term that is also conditional, apparently). Such a tradition is repeatedly mentioned in Greek mythology and is associated with well-known names such as Pelops, Bellerophon, Melampous, Peleus, Telamon, Teucer, Andraemon, Diomedes, Menelaus, and several others. In Greece, until the Hellenistic period, there is no list of kings as characteristic of the Near East and Anatolia. If the "son-in-law" succeeded the king, as noted by Finkelberg, it meant that the queen inherited through her daughter, while the rest of the culture remained patriarchal: "This means that in Sparta, apparently, and in other places where monarchy is attested by marriage rather than inheritance, we observe a line of queen-regents from mother to daughter."

By the end of the Archaic period, kings were displaced by tyrants, and a new form of government emerged—the city-state, also known as a polis. The kingdoms vanished completely, even though royal dynasties continued to exist, and their memory was preserved in society. In their place, a new organization emerged: many large settlements became autonomous and were led by republican-style governments. This process is called synoecism, an ancient Greek term that denotes the assimilation of villages and the incorporation of tribal structures into the city-states. The acropolis became a typical public building.

The economy of Archaic Greece

The breakdown of kinship and the emergence of early class relations were the result of significant changes in the socio-economic structure of Greek society.

In the field of agriculture, the most important sector of the ancient economy, there was a gradual restructuring of the production structure. This manifested in the rapid development of industries such as viticulture and olive cultivation, which required careful care, investment, and significant human labor compared to grain farming. The hilly terrain of Greece with rocky soil in many areas, which was less suitable for widespread cultivation of grains, proved favorable for growing grapevines, olive and fruit trees, and various vegetables. This not only contributed to the enrichment of the overall structure of Greek agricultural production but also its intensification. Additional investment of resources and labor made it possible to obtain surpluses of grapes and olives (typically converted into wine and olive oil) that were not entirely consumed within the household and could be sold in the market. In turn, the potential for market connections encouraged farmers to make additional investments and expand the scale and volume of production.

The main units of agricultural production in the 8th to 6th centuries BCE were small peasant farms and larger estates owned by the aristocratic elite, cultivated by impoverished relatives who fell under their dependency. Often, aristocrats would lease their land to poor kinsmen who would pay them half of the harvest as rent (working on a sharecropping basis), struggling to make ends meet. Agrarian relations in 8th to 6th century BCE Greece were characterized by the strengthening of large land ownership by the aristocracy (descendants of the noble lineage) and the impoverishment of small landowners, who constituted the majority of the population. This led to an increase in wealth stratification and heightened social tension in the emerging Greek city-states.

Significant changes also occurred in the field of craftsmanship, which became separated from agriculture. While in the preceding period, craft production and agriculture coexisted within each settlement, in the 8th to 6th centuries BCE, craft production became concentrated in the cities, and farmers residing in villages had to purchase crafted goods from urban artisans.

The separation of craftsmanship from agriculture became an important factor and condition for the development of both agriculture and craft production, leading to the growth of specialization and professionalism among workers. In the field of craftsmanship, this contributed to technological progress and the organization of well-defined industries such as metallurgy and metalworking, ceramics production, and shipbuilding. Significant achievements were made in metallurgy and metalworking. Greek craftsmen mastered the so-called bloomery process of iron production. In the 8th to 6th centuries BCE, Greek metallurgists developed ironworking techniques and widely utilized iron for the production of weapons (swords, daggers, spearheads) and tools (plowshares, various types of knives, hammers, hoes, shovels, blacksmithing tools). The Greeks learned to give special hardness to iron (tempering) through forging on the blacksmith's anvil or through carbonization of iron, enabling them to produce certain types of steel (notably Laconian steel was renowned). The development of technology for joining different pieces of iron through welding and riveting, invented by the master Glaukos from the island of Chios, had tremendous importance for the widespread use of iron in various industries.

The technology for working with bronze, a well-known and widely used metal, also improved, and the quality of bronze products was enhanced. The craftsmen Roik and Theodor from the island of Samos mastered new methods of bronze casting, which allowed them to cast statues using wax models and obtain strong and thin bronze sheets. These sheets were extensively used for making a range of weaponry (body armor, helmets, shields, etc.), ceremonial utensils (bronze vessels, especially those produced in Corinth, known as Corinthian bronze), bronze sheets for cladding the hulls of ships, and the production of many metal components for ships and more.

The adoption of iron and steel technology and the availability of a large quantity of metal led to the emergence of tools that made tasks such as clearing forests and shrubs more efficient (using iron axes), expanding arable land and cultivating it (with iron plowshares, picks, hoes, and sickles). With the use of iron hammers, anvils, saws, and other tools, it became possible to work with hard stone and perform operations that were impossible or difficult with bronze tools. The widespread use of iron weapons brought about a revolution in warfare, particularly in the decline of the role of aristocratic cavalry and the rise of heavily armored infantry (hoplites) composed of middle-class citizens from Greek city-states. The production of various ceramic goods flourished, including ceremonial and everyday pottery, lamps, roof tiles for houses and public buildings, specialized vessels (amphorae and pithoi) for the transport and storage of liquids and grains, facing tiles used for the decoration of external walls, ceramic pipes, weights for looms, and other items.

Greek potters achieved great artistry in the production of ceramic goods. Excellent firing techniques, a variety of vessel shapes, and elegance ensured a high demand for Greek pottery throughout the Mediterranean. Striving to enhance the beauty of their ceremonial pieces, Greek masters began applying a beautiful black glaze, known as the famous black lacquer, to the external walls of their vessels. They also depicted mythological or everyday scenes and used decorative motifs. Pottery workshops existed in most Greek cities, but the masters of Corinth and Athens were particularly renowned. Their black lacquer and painted vessels gained fame far beyond the Aegean Basin.

Shipbuilding became of vital importance in the 8th to 6th centuries BCE. Greece did not have large military fleets at this time since the Greeks had not yet engaged in naval warfare. However, a significant passenger and trading fleet was required for commerce and the establishment of numerous colonies in different regions of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Greeks built various types of ships, including pentekonters with 50 oarsmen and more complex triremes with 180 oarsmen, capable of reaching speeds of up to 10 nautical miles per hour. Shipbuilding was a complex process involving the expertise of many specialists, including carpenters, woodworkers, metalworkers, riggers, sail installers, and more. Therefore, the success of Greek shipbuilding was an indicator of the overall high level of Greek craftsmanship. While Greek communities lived relatively isolated lives during the Homeric period, in the 8th to 6th centuries BCE, intensive connections were established among different city-states, often located in remote areas of the Mediterranean, such as Sicily or the Black Sea region, with the cities of the Aegean Basin. Trade played a significant role in these active interactions, facilitating the exchange of various goods and raw materials. Newly founded colonies exported wine, olive oil, ceramics, metal goods, and weapons, while they received metals, timber, leather, bread, and slaves in return. To facilitate transactions in trade, coins were invented. The first coins appeared in the 7th century BCE in Lydia and on the island of Aegina in Greece, and soon many Greek cities began minting their own coins. Greek coins were small pieces of silver with a specific weight, usually round in shape, featuring depictions of various deities and associated symbols on both sides (owls for the goddess Athena, eagles, scepters, or lightning bolts for Zeus, tripod, lyre, swan for Apollo, trident for Poseidon, etc.).

The gradual spread of coins, the strengthening of trade links among different city-states, as well as with the surrounding barbarian periphery, indicated the penetration of commodity production into the Greek economy.

The development of crafts concentrated in the main center of the city-state, the expanding production for the market, and the establishment of active trade connections all contributed to the foundation and rapid development of cities, not only as administrative and religious centers but also as trade and craft centers. A genuine urban revolution occurred in Greece during the 8th to 6th centuries BCE. Craft workshops operated in the cities, active trade took place in the central market square (agora), and ships from distant regions docked in the harbors. The population of artisans, merchants, sailors, oarsmen, workshop owners, and ship owners, i.e., the trade and craft stratum, increased. However, the city was also home to landowners from the noble families and modest farmers who left the city to tend their plots. Rural farmers closely connected to the city participated in assemblies, took part in public festivities, purchased craft goods (plows, hoes, picks, lamps, utensils, etc.), and sold surplus agricultural products. In other words, the city became the most important factor in the social, economic, political, and cultural development of the entire city-state, serving as a focal point for this development to a certain extent.

Overall, the economy of Greek city-states in the 8th to 6th centuries BCE differed from the economies of ancient Eastern and Mycenaean states of the 2nd millennium BCE in terms of structure, greater dynamism, larger-scale craft production, extensive trading operations, the increasing role of commodity production, predominance of private households, and limited intervention of state power in economic life. The character and structure of the emerging city-state economy predetermined the significant role of the social strata associated with crafts and trade in social relations. However, another type of city-state economy emerged, where agriculture became predominant, and the role of crafts and trade was limited. These were agrarian city-states in the inner regions of Greek Macedonia (such as Sparta in the Peloponnese), Boeotia, many cities of Thessaly, and others.

Related topics

Ancient Greece, Great Greek Colonization

Literature

• Cambridge History of the Ancient World, vol. 3. Part 3: Expansion of the Greek World. VIII-VI centuries BC, ed. by J. Boardman and N.-J.-L. Hammond.

• Translated from English, text preparation, preface and notes by A. V. Zaikov, Moscow: Ladomir, 2007, 653 p. ISBN 978-5-86218-467-9

• Richter Gisela M.A. A Handbook of Greek Art: Third Edition Newly Revised. — Phaidon Publishers Inc..

• Snodgrass Anthony Archaic Greece: The Age of Experiment. — London Melbourne Toronto: J M Dent & Sons Ltd. — ISBN 0460043882

• George Grote, J. M. Mitchell, Max Cary, Paul Cartledge, A History of Greece: From the Time of Solon to 403 B.C., Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0-415-22369-5