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Archaic Greece Facts & Worksheets

Archaic Greece was ancient Greece's period from 700 to 480 BCE.

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Ancient Greece‘s period from 700 to 480 BCE is known as the Archaic Period. Archaic Greece saw achievements in art, poetry, and technology, but it is best recognized as the age of the polis or city-state. After its establishment, the polis came to characterize Greek politics for centuries.

See the fact file below for more information on Archaic Greece, or you can download our 27-page Archaic Greece worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

Historical Background

  • People lived in small farming settlements throughout Greece during the so-called “Greek Dark Ages” before the Archaic period. Over time, these communities developed and changed. Some people built barriers. Most of them created a public assembly and commercial center called an agora.
  • The people of these societies eventually drafted constitutions and established orderly governments. They built armies and levied taxes. There is a theory that each of these city-states (poleis) was guarded by a different deity, to whom the polis’s residents owed enormous gratitude and sacrifice. (For example, Athena was the deity of both Athens and Sparta.)
  • The Greek language, society, art, architecture, and politics changed dramatically throughout the Archaic Period. These developments occurred due to Greece’s growing population and increased trade, which led to colonization and a new age of intellectual ideals, the most important of which was democracy.
  • Even while their population shared what Herodotus described as “the same stock and the same language, our shared temples of the gods and religious rituals, and our comparable traditions”, each Greek city-state was unique. Sparta, the largest, controlled around 300 square kilometers of territory and the smallest only a few hundred people.
  • The city-states were initially entirely dissimilar, but by the beginning of the Archaic period in the seventh century BCE, many similarities had emerged. Because their economies were built on agriculture rather than trade, land was a crucial resource in each city-state. In addition, the majority had toppled their basileus, or hereditary rulers, and were dominated by a tiny minority of affluent aristocrats.
  • These individuals held a monopoly on political power. For example, they would not allow regular citizens to serve in councils or assemblies. In addition, they monopolized the most excellent farmland, and some of them even claimed descent from the Greek gods. According to Aristotle, “there was tension between the nobility and the people for a long period” because “the poor with their wives and children were enslaved to the affluent and had no political rights”.

Colonization

  • One way to alleviate some of the anxiety was to emigrate. When it came to the wealth of the city-states, the land was king, but this precious commodity was scarce. The strain of population expansion drove many males away from their hometowns and into Greece and the Aegean’s sparsely populated regions.
  • It is estimated that between 750 and 600 BCE, Greek colonies spread over the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, North Africa, and the Black Sea coast. By the end of the seventh century BCE, more than 1,500 colonial poleis existed.
  • These poleis were each their own sovereign nation. This set the colonies of the Archaic period apart from the ones we are more familiar with; the people who settled there were not subject to the authority of the city-states from whence they originally emigrated. The new poleis were self-sufficient and self-governing.

Ascent of Tyrants

  • Eventually, as their populations grew, these agricultural city-states diversified into manufacturing everyday household items like pottery, textiles, wine, and metallurgy. Many people, usually not from the ancient nobility, became very wealthy thanks to trade in these items. Dissatisfied with the oligarch’s absolute rule, these groups often enlisted the help of heavily armed soldiers known as hoplites to topple the old guard and install new rulers.
  • These rulers were called tyrants. Some tyrants proved to be just as authoritarian as the oligarchs they replaced, while others emerged as enlightened leaders. Pheidon of Argos devised an ordered system of weights and measures, while Theagenes of Megara provided his city with running water. But their control was short-lived since the classical era ushered in a new political order that culminated in demokratia, or “government by the people” in Ancient Greek.

Greek Art 

  • Before the Archaic Period, pottery was the most popular medium for expressing creativity. There was an absence of contact between communities during the Dark Ages, as seen by the lack of figurative painting and a lack of unifying artistic traditions across the Mediterranean. This would change when encounters between previously distinct cultures became more widespread.
  • The Archaic Era was marked by a flourishing of figurative expressiveness and art, in striking contrast to the Middle Ages. Archaic Greece witnessed the growth of new art forms, including frescoes, sculpture, painting, jewelry creation, and pottery, which remained a staple of Greek art. 

Sculpture

  • The Archaic period moved from hyper-stylized art toward a more realistic style. Vase paintings progressed from geometric forms to portrayals of human figures, frequently portraying epic narratives. 
  • The “Archaic smile” was a signature feature of sculpted faces, and increasing awareness of human proportion and anatomy allowed for more realistic depictions of the human body. A developing interest in achieving balance and harmony through architecture can be seen in the emergence of the Doric and Ionic orders throughout the Archaic period.
  • Archaic Greek images of youthful men and women were known as kouros and kore. Kouros translates roughly as “male youth” and was frequently used to characterize young, beardless men. Kore, which means “maiden” in English, was traditionally used to describe an innocent young girl or lady. These statues represented young men and women in stiff, upright stances with a peaceful, neutral facial expression known as the Archaic grin. 
  • At the start of the Archaic period, statues were often larger than life. However, by end, most figures, especially kore, were considerably smaller. They had specific characteristics, but the kouros and kore were also very different.
  • It is the two figures’ contrasting fashion choices that stand out most. Kore statues were always shown fully clothed, with numerous elaborate layers of clothing. Archaic Greek women wore multiple layers, from thin chitons made of linen to warm peplos made of wool.
  • At the end of the seventh century, the production and use of tiny horses began to decline, and by 700 BCE, they had almost completely disappeared from use. In Greece, these sculptures are often found as church dedications or tomb markers, although the sculptures may also have been used in cult ceremonies. 
  • Kore and kouros were first created in the Cyclades in about the middle of the seventh century BCE. Kore were created first, perhaps beginning with the Dedication of Nikandre, which was presented to Artemis at her refuge on Delos in around 650 BCE. Soon after, kouroi were made.

Pottery

  • Archaic Greek pottery constitutes a substantial element of the archeological record of Ancient Greece. Because there is so much of it, it has disproportionately impacted our understanding of Greek society. Broken vases from Greece that were left behind or buried in the first millennium BCE remain the best source for learning about Ancient Greek culture.
  • There were regional variations, the most notable of which were the Ancient Greek ceramic forms from South Italy. Many different types and styles of Ancient Greek vases were employed in these locations. 
  • Vase painting brought about a rise in embellishment in Greek ceramic art. Geometry-based artwork in Greek vase patterns emerged in Greece around the late Dark Ages and early Archaic era, coinciding with the Orientalizing period. Archaic and Classical Greek potters started making black-figure pottery, but they soon began experimenting with different colors and techniques, like the white ground method and red-figure vessels. West Slope Ware was typical of the late Hellenistic period, which saw the abolition of vase painting.

Poetry and Literature

  • From the oldest manuscripts to the time of the Byzantine Empire, Ancient Greek literature is literature composed in the Ancient Greek language. The epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, set in an idealized archaic past presently regarded as having some link to the Mycenaean age, are the earliest extant works of Ancient Greek literature, going back to the early Archaic period.
  • Although these two famous epic poems of Ancient Greece have traditionally been assigned to the enigmatic character of Homer, little is known about him other than the fact that he was the name attributed to the poems by the Greeks themselves in antiquity.

Archaic Greece Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Archaic Greece across 27 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about Archaic Greece, which was ancient Greece’s period from 700 to 480 BCE.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Archaic Greece Facts
  2. Fill in the Blanks
  3. Word History
  4. Pictionary
  5. Writing History
  6. Define It
  7. Masterpiece
  8. Old Greece
  9. Major Events
  10. Ancient Greek Art
  11. Art Master

Frequently Asked Questions

How long did archaic Greece last?

The archaic period of history and archaeology represents the beginning stages of culture. Still, art historians most often use it to explain the artistic development in Greece from 700-480 BC – right up until when Persia sacked Athens.

What is Archaic Greece known for?

Spanning from 700-480 B.C., the Ancient or Archaic period of Greece was a time that provided advancements in art, poetry, and technology. While it is often overshadowed by the Classical Age’s renowned artwork, architecture, and philosophy, this era saw the successful invention of the polis (city-state).

Why is archaic Greece important?

During the Archaic period, Greece was doing well politically and culturally. This was when the Greek alphabet turned into what we have today. People also wrote down early examples of literature and made famous sculptures and pottery during this time. Additionally, during this era, people who fought with weapons became a big part of shaping up armies – all of which prepared for the Classical period.

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Link will appear as Archaic Greece Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, November 30, 2022

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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