Above: A map of the Greek world during the Archaic Greek Period showing the areas in which city-states (poleis) developed, and the areas in which the old tribal organization remained.

So I’ll outline relationships without implying causation, since I can’t be certain what caused what. With moving pieces like this, things are usually a bit more complicated, anyway.

Our story begins with something we’ve already discussed: the transition in the Greek diet. During the Dark Age, Greeks ate a primarily meat-based diet. But at some point at the end of the Dark Age or during the early Archaic Period, that diet changed. The new Greek diet relied on cereals such as wheat, barley, and oats. This diet was more nutritious and could support a greater population, but also meant that nearly one hundred percent of the population needed to be active as farmers. Active farming from all sides of the population led to the development of a middle class, which fundamentally changed Greek society and politics.

Above: A sculpture from the late Greek Archaic Period, showing artistic development during this time towards a more naturalistic, realistic style (as compared to Dark Age art). 

So how did all this economic and social change — essentially, the growth of a strong middle class — affect the political and military systems of ancient Greece? Let’s first talk about the development of the polis to understand what the developing political structure at the time was. 

The polis 

A polis is, essentially, a city-state. Imagine if your hometown and the towns surrounding it were autonomous entities with their own governments, like states. (I know that cities and towns have governments, too, but imagine if your hometown were as self-sufficient as possible, while maintaining trade connections with the surrounding towns.) By the mid Archaic Period, poleis had developed in quite a few areas of Greece, replacing old tribal systems that had relied on the protection of powerful, armed nobility. With the development of the polis, which sought self-sufficiency, and the growth of the middle class, the nobility lost power. They were no longer the only ones who could afford to fight in battle. Greek farmers became soldiers as well, defending their polis in times of war. 

And wars were common. They broke out between developing poleis for territory and resources — even human resources, like women. But warfare only occurred during small windows of the year — in gaps during the agricultural cycle when men didn’t need to be around tending to their farms. 

It’s likely that participation in warfare spurred middle class Greeks to demand political change. They wanted to have a hand in the government of their poleis. In some poleis, democracies began to develop. Sometimes, these democracies were overthrown by a small group of powerful citizens who formed an oligarchy. And both oligarchies and democracies suffered — and gained — from the occasional tyranny. In some ways, it’s likely that the repeated cycle of tyranny at, say, Athens, the city-state we know the most about, helped to form Athenian democracy. In fact, it’s practically indisputable. Tyrants were not always bad people, nor were they always bad leaders. They often supported the arts and culture and led their city-states to flourish. However, tyranny usually died out two or at maximum three generations beyond the initial tyrant. Then the citizens of the polis would establish a new government.

In Sparta, a city-state we know a little about from Herodotus — our other major source for Archaic Greece (you can read my article on Herodotus if you’re interested in learning more) — a kingship persisted. But there were two kings, perhaps representing a split in a family or the merging of two families, and there were also two councils. Most city-states relied on a combination of executive officers and legislative councils for governance, though both the executive officers and legislative councils could take many different forms. Almost universally, only landowning males over the age of 18 were considered citizens. This means that in Athens, only around a fifth of the total population of the polis ever participated in politics. The others were too young, slaves, non-landowners, alien residents of Athens, or women. 

About women… 

In other city-states, like Sparta, the situation for women was a little different. Spartan women were encouraged to engage in physical activities, because the Spartans believed that a strong, healthy mother would produce strong, healthy children. (They were right.) Visitors to Sparta from other city-states often remarked on the Spartans’ strange customs when it came to women. Herodotus relates that an older husband was allowed to “lend” his wife to a younger man in order to conceive a son (who would be considered legitimate). It’s unclear, however, to what extent Herodotus exaggerated the differences between Athens and Sparta to play to his audience.

At any rate, women certainly had a lessened political standing, especially when comparing to the Minoan and Mycenaean societies, where it seems women played an active role in politics, society, and religion. 

To close, I’ll reiterate what I said at the very start of my discussion of Archaic Greece: Archaic Greece was a place of constant change. 

In fact, there’s so much to discuss about Archaic Greece that I took a whole course on it for my degree at Tufts. The course is called “Rise of the Greeks,” and I owe part of the title of this article to it. It’s taught masterfully by Professor Steven Hirsch. If you ever, by any chance, find yourself at Tufts, try to take it! There’s a lot of reading, but it’s worth the rigor. This is one of the least-covered areas of ancient Greek history (besides the Dark Age), and I’m very lucky to have been able to take a course on it at all. 

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