Archaic Age (jan 1, 800 BC – jan 1, 500 BC)

Description:

rise of the polis; Greek colonization of the Mediterranean; Homer and Hesiod compose epics and poetry

age of Greek expansion

"With the polis, the Greeks established a new type of political structure. During the Archaic period, poleis established colonies throughout much of the Mediterranean, spreading Greek culture. Two particular poleis, each with a distinctive system of government, rose to prominence on the Greek mainland: Sparta and Athens.”

"The Greek polis was not the first form of city-state to emerge. The earliest states in Sumer were also city-states, as were many of the small Mycenaean kingdoms. What differentiated the new Greek model from older city-states is the fact that the polis was more than a political institution; it was a community of citizens with their own customs and laws. With one exception, the poleis that emerged after 800 did not have kings but instead were self-governing. The physical, religious, and political forms of the polis varied from place to place, but everywhere the polis was relatively small, reflecting the fragmented geography of Greece. The very smallness of the polis enabled Greeks to see how they fit individually into the overall system — and how the individual parts made up the social whole. This notion of community was fundamental to the polis and was the very badge of Greekness."

"Physically a polis was a society of people who lived in a city (asty) and cultivated the surrounding countryside (chora). The countryside was essential to the economy of the polis and provided food to sustain the entire population. By the fifth century B.C.E., the city was generally surrounded by a wall. The city contained a point, usually elevated, called the acropolis, and a public square or marketplace called the agora (ah-guh-RAH). On the acropolis, people built temples, altars, public monuments, and various dedications to the gods of the polis. The agora was the political center of the polis. In the agora were shops, public buildings, and courts."

"The backbone of the army, however, was the heavily armed infantry, or hoplites, middle-class and upper-middle-class propertied citizens who could afford leather and bronze armor and helmets, shields, and iron-tipped weapons, which they purchased themselves. They marched and fought in a close rectangular formation known as a phalanx, holding their shields together to form a solid wall, with the spears of the front row sticking out over the tops of the shields."

"For naval battles, cities also relied on citizens as rowers for their warships, though these citizens were usually paid. An experienced rower was valuable because he had learned how to row in rhythm with many other men, and some rowers became professionals who hired themselves out to any military leader."

"Monarchy, rule by a king, had been prevalent during the Mycenaean period but declined thereafter. Sporadic periods of violent political and social upheaval often led to the seizure of power by one man, a type of government the Greeks called tyranny. Tyrants generally came to power by using their wealth or by negotiating to win a political following that toppled the existing legal government. In contrast to its contemporary meaning, however, tyranny in ancient Greece did not necessarily mean oppressive rule. Some tyrants used their power to benefit average citizens by helping to limit the power of the landowning aristocracy, which made them popular. Other types of government in the Archaic age were democracy and oligarchy."

"Almost all Greek cities defined a citizen as an adult man with at least one or, at some times and places, two citizen parents. Women were citizens for religious and reproductive purposes, but their citizenship did not give them the right to participate in government. Free men who were not children of a citizen, resident foreigners, and slaves were not citizens and had no political voice. Thus ancient Greek democracy did not reflect the modern concept that all people are created equal, "

"Oligarchy, which literally means “the rule of the few,” was government by citizens who met a minimum property requirement. Many Greeks preferred oligarchy because it provided more political stability than democracy did. (Many of the Founding Fathers of the United States agreed, and they established a system in which the most important elections were indirect and only property owners had the right to vote.) "

"The increase in population created more demand for food than the land could supply. The resulting social and political tensions drove many people to seek new homes outside Greece. In some cases the losers in a conflict within a polis were forced to leave."

"In economic terms the expansion of the Greeks created a much larger market for agricultural and manufactured goods. From the east, especially from the northern coast of the Black Sea, came wheat. In return flowed Greek wine and olive oil, which could not be produced in the harsher climate of the north. Greek-manufactured goods, notably rich jewelry and fine pottery, circulated from southern Russia to Spain. During the same period the Greeks adopted the custom of minting coins from metal, first developed in the kingdom of Lydia in Anatolia. Coins provided many advantages over barter: they allowed merchants to set the value of goods in a determined system, they could be stored easily, and they allowed for more complex exchanges than did direct barter. New colonies were planned and initially supplied by the metropolis, or “mother city.” Once founded, however, they were independent of the metropolis, a pattern that was quite different from most later systems of colonization."

"Instead of creating a state devoted to the military, the Athenians created a state that became a democracy."

"The aristocracy still governed Athens oppressively, however, and the social and economic situation remained dire. Despite Draco’s code, noble landholders continued to force small farmers and artisans into economic dependence. Many families were sold into slavery because of debt; others were exiled, and their land was mortgaged to the rich.
One person who recognized these problems clearly was Solon (SOH-luhn), an aristocrat and poet. Reciting his poems in the Athenian agora, where anyone could hear his call for justice and fairness, Solon condemned his fellow aristocrats for their greed and dishonesty. According to later sources, Solon’s sincerity and good sense convinced other aristocrats that he was no crazed revolutionary. He also gained the trust of the common people, whose problems provoked them to demand access to political life, much as commoners in Sparta had. Around 594 B.C.E., the nobles elected Solon chief archon (AHR-kahn), or magistrate of the Athenian polis, with authority over legal, civic, and military issues.
Solon immediately freed all people enslaved for debt, recalled all exiles, canceled all debts on land, and made enslavement for debt illegal. He allowed non-nobles into the old aristocratic assembly, where they could take part in the election of magistrates, including the annual election of the city’s nine archons."

"During the sixth century B.C.E., the successful general Pisistratus (pih-SIHS-trah-tuhs) declared himself tyrant. Under his rule, Athens prospered, and his building program began to transform the city into one of the splendors of Greece. He raised the civic consciousness and prestige of the polis by instituting new cultural festivals that brought people together. Although he had taken over control of the city by force, his reign as tyrant weakened the power of aristocratic families and aroused rudimentary feelings of equality in many Athenian men."

"Athens became more democratic under the leadership of Cleisthenes (KLIE-thuh-neez), a wealthy and prominent aristocrat who had won the support of lower-status men and became the leader of Athens in 508 B.C.E."

"In 487 B.C.E., the election of the city’s nine archons was replaced by reappointment by lot, which meant that any citizen with a certain amount of property had a chance of becoming an archon."

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