The Archaic Period: The Greek Dark Age

The Archaic Period
The Archaic Period was a time in Greek history that took place from 800 B.C. to 500 B.C. During this period the Greek society evolved in many different ways from language to politics. These changes were due to the growing number of population and interaction with other nations through trade. The Archaic period was important for its new beginnings and changes from its previous period know as the Greek Dark Age.
The new way of thinking brought changes to government. The laws of Draco was the first form of government created in this period. Though this is not known as a change for the better. The laws were cruel and most crimes ended in a death penalty. Aristotle’s thoughts on Draco was “there is nothing peculiar in his

laws that is worthy of mention, except their severity in imposing heavy punishment” (Politics 2.1274b). Democracy did not come up until Cleisthenes came to power. Cleisthenes split up the four tribes into ten demes, or villages. All people from a deme would change their surname to the deme’s name to create a sense of unity. In each deme their was a Demarch who acted as a mayor who kept track of important functions.
Within every deme their was a hierarchy. At the top of the social pyramid were the Polites, also known as aristocrats. These people were native Greek adult men who lived in the city state. These men had all the privileges of democracy such as being directed a member of the government after returning from their required work in the army. Though Polites made up the governments of demes, they were still required to pay taxes. They also studied art and literature and were knowledgable. Next was the Metics or middle class. This group consisted of foreign men who worked as merchants. Metics were also required to serve in the army and pay taxes but were not allowed to become a member of the government afterwards. Metics were also unable to own property or land. Women fall after Metics on the hierarchy. They had little to no rights and their lives were focused on house work and childbearing. Women were expected to keep the home intact and fetch water or weave clothes. A man was always superior to a woman, no matter how old she was. And like any social chart, slaves were at the bottom. Slaves were mostly prisoners of war and had no rights at all. Some slaves would be assigned to be a household assistant, which was considered the best job for a slave. Some were even allowed to go on vacations with their masters and participate in religious ceremonies. But many were not so lucky and were put in jobs that required hard work such as mining. They were treated inhumanely and often died from bad living conditions.
The greek social structure had a drastic change from the Greek Dark Age period to the Archaic period. societies were created which led to an organized hierarchy to be established.