CLA160H1 Lecture Notes - Peisistratos, Symposium, Everyman
Document Summary
Archaic period: 750- 480bc (writing to persian war) There are political, economic and artistic developments in this period. The most important political development is the rise of the polis and the invention of politics. The polis is a city state, made up of the city and surrounding land to make up a single, self-governing political unit. It is a state the side of a city. Each city had their own currency and their own weights and measures. They had their own laws and religious festivals. There is a lot of diversity in the structure of the poleis. Athens was a democracy; sparta was a monarchy with two kings. Greek history is a constant shift between the poleis working together and going to war against each other. In certain periods, they would come together in a pan-hellenic effort. When there is no outside threat, they would tend to fight each other.
