The archaic period of Ancient Greece, which covers the VIII-VI centuries. BC e., served as the beginning of an important stage in the history of this state. For all three centuries - in a short, in general, period - Greece has advanced far in its development and has overtaken many countries and states of the Ancient East, which developed quite quickly. Ancient Greece of the archaic period was a place of awakening of spiritual forces after four centuries of stagnation in development. This time was the heyday of creative activity.
The revival of past greatness
During the archaic period in Ancient Greece, such forms of art as architecture, painting, monumental sculpture are revived. The most talented sculptors erect the first Greek temples from marble and limestone, which have survived to this day. In the archaic period, sculpture in Ancient Greece experienced an unprecedented rise. It was at this time that eternal works of art appeared. Monumental sculptures of marble and bronze are created. It was during the archaic period in Ancient Greece that the famous works of Homer and Hesiod were written, which amaze with their depth. It is also worth noting the amazing poems of Archilochus, Alkey and Saffo, written at this time. Literature of the archaic period of Ancient Greece and in our time is published and translated in almost all countries. Famous to this day philosophers Thales, Anaximenes and Anaximander wrote their philosophical works, giving answers to questions about the origin of the universe and the world.
Art
The archaic period in the history of ancient Greece, especially the unprecedented rise of Greek culture in the VIII-VI centuries. BC e., was due to the Great Colonization at that time. She brought Greece out of the isolation state in which she was after Mycenaean culture ceased to exist. Another feature of the archaic period in the history of Ancient Greece is the interchange of cultures of Hellas and the Ancient East. The Phoenicians brought to the ancient Greek culture a letter and alphabet, which in Greece was made even more convenient by introducing vowels. From that moment, a culture of writing and speech began to develop, alphabets began to appear, including Russian. The Syrians told and showed the Greeks a lot of new things, for example, a method of processing sand into glass, and also showed how to make paint from shells. The Greeks adopted the basics of astronomy and geometry from the Egyptians. In the archaic period of Ancient Greece, the sculpture of the Egyptians had a strong influence on Greek art, which was just beginning to appear. The Lydians also had a huge impact on Greece - it was thanks to them that the Greeks learned to mint coins.
Despite the fact that many elements of Greek culture were borrowed from other cultures, Greece still remained an original country.
Colonization
Colonization made the then numerous Greek people more mobile and ready for change. Now, each person could self-actualize, regardless of their gender, accordingly, society became more developed and progressive, many new phenomena appeared. In short, art in the archaic period of Ancient Greece is not the only thing that has received an incredible degree of development. Now shipping and maritime trade come to the fore and move the country forward. Initially, most of the colonies that were on the periphery became largely dependent on their metropolises. But over time, this situation has changed.
Export
Residents of many colonies experienced an acute shortage of even the most necessary things. For example, wine and olive oil, which the Greeks loved so much, did not enter the colony at all. Huge ships delivered tons of wine and oil to many countries. The metropolises exported not only foodstuffs to the colonies - they supplied clay dishes and other household utensils, various fabrics, weapons, jewelry, and so on. Of course, these items are very popular with the locals, and they exchange them for grain, livestock, slaves and non-ferrous metals. Unpretentious crafts from Greece, of course, did not immediately compete with Phoenician souvenirs, which were hunted by merchants around the world. Despite this, there was great demand for them where the Phoenician ships — the Black Sea, Thrace, and the Adriatic — did not reach.
Progress
Nevertheless, despite the fact that the crafts and objects of art of the archaic period of Ancient Greece are significantly inferior in quality to goods of eastern origin, the Greeks managed to establish mass production and sell their goods even on the "promised land" for all merchants - Sicily.
Colonies are gradually becoming the most important centers of industry and trade between many developed countries of antiquity. And in Greece itself, the so-called policies become the centers of economic and trade development, with the help of which the control of the colonization movement becomes more convenient. The largest and most developed of them are Corinth and Megara in the North Peloponnese, Aegina, Samos and Rhodes in the Aegean archipelago, Miletus and Ephesus on the west coast of Asia Minor.
Social Change and Craft
Gradually, markets began to appear in the colonies, which served as a powerful impetus for the development and improvement of crafts, agriculture, art and architecture in ancient Greece of the archaic period, briefly described above. Craftsmen from Greece are noticeably progressing and equipping their workshops with the latest technology of the time. Analyzing the characteristics of the archaic period of Ancient Greece, we can say that this was the most fruitful period in all senses for the country. What are the innovations such as the invention of new methods for soldering iron or the improvement of casting from bronze! Greek ceramics of the 7th-6th centuries BC e. stunning the imagination with luxury and an abundance of forms, a variety of decoration. The most beautiful vessels made by the hands of talented Corinthian masters, on which the painting is painted in oriental style, are especially distinguished. It can be distinguished by the colorful and incredible whimsical ornate patterns that resemble drawings on oriental rugs. It is also worth noting vases in black-figure style, which were produced mainly in Athenian and Peloponnesian policies. The pottery of Greek potters and bronze casters not only indicates that the division of labor was practiced in Greece at that time, but also that responsibilities were shared even within a single industry. The culture of the archaic period of Ancient Greece experienced an incredible rise.
Department of Craft from Agriculture
Most of the ceramic products exported by Greece abroad were made in special workshops by experienced craftsmen and vase painters. Numerous artisans are no longer single without rights and freedoms. The time has already passed when they did not even have a permanent place of residence. Now they are a very significant and influential class of the population. The quality of their products was becoming higher, as were the prices for the work of the craftsmen. Entire neighborhoods appeared where artisans of a certain profession lived. In one of the major cities called Corinth from the VII century. BC e. there was a so-called quarter of pottery masters - Ceramics. In the capital of Greece, Athens, a similar area, located in an impressive part of the city, appeared in the VI century. BC e. These historical facts indicate that during the archaic period in Greece a fundamentally new period of state development began: craft became a separate type of activity and completely separated from agriculture as a separate, completely abstracted part of production and activity. Fundamental changes did not bypass agriculture, which now needed to take into account not only the needs of the community, but also market demand. Now the market dictates the rules to all branches of production. The first beginnings of entrepreneurship also appeared among farmers - those who had boats brought their goods to the markets of nearby cities. They did not move along the road because robbers and robbers became much larger with the development of trade. Since grain crops in Greece were not well received, they mainly cultivated grapes and olives, because delicious Greek wine and high-quality olive oil were in incredible demand in the East. In the end, the Greeks realized that it is much cheaper to bring grain from abroad than to grow it at home.
Government and political system of the archaic period of Ancient Greece
Most Greek cities, excluding numerous colonies, emerged from the centralized settlements of the era of Homer - policies. However, archaic and Homeric policies are completely different concepts. They differed quite significantly: the policy of the era of Homer was both a city and a village, since there were no other settlements that could compete with it. The archaic policy, on the contrary, was a kind of capital of a small state, in which, apart from himself, there were small villages (Greek coma), located on the outskirts of the polis territory and dependent on it both politically and economically.
Architecture
Please note that archaic policies have become much larger than the policies built in the era of Homer. There were two reasons for this: natural population growth and the unification of several villages in one big city. This phenomenon is called Sinoikism, the unification took place in order to repulse neighboring hostile villages and towns. Despite unprecedented progress, truly large cities in Greece have not yet been. The largest policies were settlements with a population of several thousand people. On average, the population did not exceed a thousand people. A good example of a typical Greek archaic polis is the ancient Smyrna, not so long ago found by archaeologists. A significant part of it was located on the peninsula, which closed the entrance to the deep bay, where there were numerous ships. The central part of Smyrna was surrounded by a brick protecting fence on a stone basement. Numerous gates and viewing platforms are arranged in the wall. All residential buildings were parallel to each other. Of course, several temples were built in the city. The residential buildings were very spacious and comfortable, in the homes of wealthy citizens there were even terracotta baths.
Agora
The heart of the archaic city was the so-called agora, at which citizens gathered and conducted lively trade. Mostly the residents of the city spent all their free time here. You could sell your goods and purchase the necessary products, learn important city news, take part in matters of national importance and just chat with the townspeople. Initially, the agora was a normal open area, on which there were no buildings. Later, wooden steps appeared on which people sat during the events. When the archaic period came to an end, fabric canopies began to hang over the steps, designed to protect people from heat and sun. On weekends, idle people and merchants of various small goods liked to settle on them. State institutions were built on or near the agora: boulevards — the city council (bule), pritanes — the place where members of the ruling collegium of the princes sat, and the dikistery — the courthouse. It was on the agora that city dwellers could familiarize themselves with new laws and decrees that were put on public display.
Sports
Since ancient times, athletic competitions have been a significant part of the life of the Greeks. For centuries, sites for strength exercises have been built in ancient Greek cities. They were called pallets and gymnasiums. Each self-respecting youth spent most of his time training. Among the sports disciplines can be called running, freestyle wrestling, fist fights, jumping, javelin and discus throwing. Each major holiday in the polis was accompanied by a sports competition called agon, in which all free-born citizens of the polis, as well as guests from other countries who received an invitation to the holiday, could take part.
Some agons deserved special popularity among the people, gradually became inter-city pan-Greek festivals. It was from there that the tradition went to arrange the Olympic Games, for participation in which they came even from the most remote colonies. Preparing to participate in the Olympic Games as seriously as for military action. Each policy considered it a matter of honor to win an event. Joyful fellow citizens bestowed the winner of the Olympic Games with truly royal privileges. In some cases, it was necessary to dismantle the huge city wall so that the triumphal column of the winner triumphantly entered the city: the townspeople believed that a person of this rank could not go through an ordinary gate.
It is from such moments that the life of an ordinary resident of the ancient Greek city of the archaic era was formed: trading and shopping on the agora, solving issues of national importance at a public meeting, participating in various religious ceremonies, exercises and trainings in gymnasiums and palestras, and, of course, participating in the Olympic Games games.