Search

Definition
Greek Archaic Period
The Greek Archaic Period (c. 800- 479 BCE) started from what can only be termed uncertainty, and ended with the Persians being ejected from Greece for good after the battles of Plataea and Mykale in 479 BCE. The Archaic Period is preceded...

Image
Archaic Sphinx, Athenian Acropolis
Archaic period sphinx (6th century BCE), Acropolis Museum, Athens.

Image
Map of Archaic Greece
A map of the political structure of Greece in the Archaic Age (ca. 750 - 490 BC).

Definition
Greek Dark Age
The Greek Dark Age is the interval between the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization, around 1200 BCE, and the Greek Archaic Period, around c. 800 BCE. The Dark Age era begins with a catastrophic event: the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization...

Definition
Ancient Greece
Greece is a country in southeastern Europe, known in Greek as Hellas or Ellada, and consisting of a mainland and an archipelago of islands. Ancient Greece is the birthplace of Western philosophy (Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle), literature...

Definition
Cleobis and Biton
Two over-life-size Archaic kouroi (6.5 ft / 2 m) are housed at the Delphi Museum, and date to c. 580 BCE. Their names (Cleobis and Biton) are actually written on their bases, and the sculptor is given as Polymides of Argos: such inscriptions...

Video
Kouros (youth), Archaic Greek, c. 590--580 B.C.E.
More free lessons at: http://www.khanacademy.org/video?v=JCTPh_QDlCY
Kouros (youth), Archaic Greek, Attic, ca. 590—580 B.C.E. (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Speakers: Monica Hahn, Brian Seymour

Image
Kouroi by Polymedes
Twin Kouroi of Argos - named Kleobis and Biton - sculpted by Polymedes (c 580 BCE), mature archaic style. Delphi Archaeological Museum, Greece.

Article
The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta
In ancient Lacedaemon, as in all enduring political communities, there was a symbiotic relationship between the form of government chosen, the way of life that this form of government fostered, and the grand strategy that the community gradually...

Image
Archaic Greek Amber Necklace
An amber necklace from Archaic Greece, 600-480 BCE. Potidaea, ancient Macedon. (British Museum, London)