#archaic greece

[lionofchaeronea]

Ancient Greek bronze figurine representing Nike, the winged goddess of victory, in a pose of motion. The figurine would have originally been attached to a larger votive vessel, such as a tripod. Artist unknown; ca. 500 BCE (Archaic period). Now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD, USA. Photo credit: Walters Art Museum.

[potnialabyrinthoio95]

Ancient Greek girl dressed in Ionian fashion based on the statue Kore 675 found in the Acropolis of Athens

Art by capelinssm

[cyborgsphere]

2024. had to chop her breasts off because apparently it's mature content!

[bronzeageecho]

painted tablet depicting a doe with her fawns, dedicated to the Sanctuary of Nymphe, protectress of marriage | c. 600 - 575 BCE | greece, archaic period

in the acropolis museum collection

[numinous-archives]

for @temperamentalgreen

I am so sorry if my response was longer than expected, I just wanted to make sure you are prepared

And apologies if it's very academically dense, it's kinda my communication style 😅 especially for these topics

Note: This is NOT my main field of expertise! These insights are coming from my perspective built on the knowledge and skills that I have developed, and insights that I personally would like to provide if I were to give an overview, I'd advise looking into the perspectives of others as well!

On researching Archaic Greek Religion

Sources & Resources

(An Extensive Preparation)

Before I start, I want to remind you that YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING! And you are not expected to know everything, because nobody truly knows everything, that's why the academic community relies on each other and other fields

Your knowledge will build itself automatically, just make sure that you are open to the information, take lots of notes, and take your time to process everything, learning is a life-long process, no rush 💛

General Advice

Ah, yes, the Archaic Period! Very interesting topic to research

The general consensus is that the Archaic Period lasted around 800 to 500 or 480 BCE

Hesiod and Homer are speculated to have lived during that time! ;)

In case you haven't already, I'd recommend looking into Hesiod's Theogony and the Homeric Hymns to get a better understanding of the characteristics of ancient Greek Religion during the Archaic Period

Note: they're called 'Homeric' for their Dactylic Hexameters and chronological proximity to Homer's time

I’d bet you already know where to look for the texts and translations online, like Perseus, Theoi, ToposText, etc, so I’ll just jump over that (but if you’d like to know more then please let me know!)

Sidenote: check out The Digital Classicist Wiki, it’s super neat.

This isn’t necessary, but I’d advise you to familiarize yourself with the academics / scholars / researchers within the field, check out the Database of Classical Scholars! They have a search engine for authors and their works

OUPblog also have a brief post (A history of modern scholarship on Ancient Greek religion) I’d recommend to check out If you’re interested in the history of the general scholarship of Ancient Greek Religion

Here are some authors and scholars I think might help. they might also have some really helpful books and articles you can find 

Walter Burkert

Jean-Pierre Vernant

Julia Kindt

Esther Eidinow

Robert Parker

Jon D. Mikalson

Marcel Detienne

Catherine Morgan

Hans Beck

Hans van Wees

Kurt A. Raaflaub

Brian M. Lavelle

Note: some might talk about general Ancient Greek Religion including the Archaic Period, some might talk about general Archaic Greece and include aspects of religious history

Context and Greek Colonization

During the Archaic Period Greek Colonization was also in action, meaning that the Greeks would spread their culture and religion with them to various geographical regions and locations, colonies (apoikiai) and cities would be founded, some could even turn into an independent Polis.

Furthermore, the Greeks would not just bring their cults but also adapt them to the environment they found themselves in!

Additionally, Cultural and Religious Syncretism would also occur if the Greeks came into contact with other cultures and civilizations, this is why and how the Greeks knew of foreign deities like Atargatis (north Syria), Isis (Egypt), Kybele (Phrygia), and Thracian deities like: Bendis, Sabazios, and Kotys. This process of translation is also known as Interpretatio Graeca

Some colonies for context:

Syracuse (Sicily): Founded by Corinth in ~ 730 BCE.

Naxos (Sicily): Founded by Chalcis in ~ 730 BCE, the first Greek colony in Sicily.

Gela (Sicily): Founded by colonists from Rhodes and Crete ~ 689 BCE.

Cumae (Italy): Founded by colonists from Chalcis ~ 740 BCE

Sybaris (Italy): Founded by Achaeans ~ 720 BCE.

Croton (Italy): Founded by Achaeans ~ 710 BCE.

Tarentum (Italy): Founded by Sparta ~ 705 BCE.

Rhegium (Italy): Founded by Chalcis around ~ 720 BCE.

Sinope (Turkey): Founded by Miletus ~ mid-7th century BCE

Panticapaeum (modern Kerch, Crimea): Founded ~ 600 BCE

Elea (Italy): Founded by Phocaea around ~ 540 BCE.

For the general historical context of the Archaic Period, here are some resources that might provide further insights

EBSCO

World History Encyclopedia

Britannica Encyclopedia

On Secondary Sources

I love books and academic literature, I think the best way to get an overview of topics is to read (more) books :)

Academic Literature

For secondary sources and academic literature, I’d recommend checking out Perlego.com, they have a very affordable subscription that gives you access to countless academic e-books

For general intros, I’d recommend:

The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion [not on Perlego]

A Companion to Archaic Greece (Wiley-Blackwell) [Available on Perlego]

Archaic Greece: The Age of New Reckonings (Chapter 5: Archaic Greek Myth and Religion) [Available on Perlego]

For the more niche books, I’d recommend:

Dionysos in Archaic Greece: An Understanding Through Images [Available on Perlego]

Mourning Rituals in Archaic & Classical Greece and Pre-Qin China [Available on Perlego]

Athletes and Oracles: The Transformation of Olympia and Delphi in the Eighth Century BC (by Catherine Morgan) [Available on Perlego]

Research Literature

Note: you can skip this if it isn't relevant to you! [it's very nerdy]

For the Research literature, I’d recommend downloading Zotero, it’s awesome!

And then scavenge through research databases like JSTOR and download the files via Zotero for better reading experience

Here are some articles I’ve found that I thought might be helpful

Connor, W. R. (1987). Tribes, festivals and processions; civic ceremonial and political manipulation in archaic Greece. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 107, 40–50. https://doi.org/10.2307/630068 

Hodkinson, S. (1998). Patterns of bronze dedications at Spartan sanctuaries, c. 650—350 BC: towards a quantified database of material and religious investment. British School at Athens Studies, 4, 55–63. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40960258 

Shapiro, H. A. (1991). Theseus: Aspects of the Hero in Archaic Greece. Studies in the History of Art, 32, 122–139. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42620663 

Kopanias, K. (2009). Some ivories from the Geometric stratum at the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, Sparta: interconnections between Sparta, Crete and the Orient during the late eighth century BC. British School at Athens Studies, 16, 123–131. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40960628 

Morris, I. (1999). Archaeology and Gender Ideologies in Early Archaic Greece. Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-), 129, 305–305. https://doi.org/10.2307/284433 

On Primary Sources

Archaeology

When looking at the archeology, I’d advise being aware of the geography and locations that you’re researching when looking into the primary sources! 

Reminder: Ancient Greece was not a united collective, so the beliefs and practices might differ (ever so slightly) based on geography and region, also: Greek colonization occurred during the Archaic Period

So maybe think about what regions and sites you wanna look more into compared to others

For general archeology I’d recommend these resources:

Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum (CVA)

Archaeological Cadastre of Greece

Arachne (archaeological database)

Archaeology in Greece Online

Beazley Archive Pottery Database

Digital Resources for Corinth (ASCSA)

Sanctuaries and Temples

Temenoi (Temenos in singular) marked the boundaries for sacred and liminal spaces connecting the mortal realm to the divine, they were places of worship where one could provide their offerings

they were not just significant landmarks but also major hubs for connection and interaction!

Here are some that you might wanna check out and look further into

Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi

Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia

Sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus

Temple of Aphaia on Aegina

Temple of Apollo in Corinth

Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron

Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta

The Sanctuary of the Great Gods at Samothrace

The Heraion of Perachora

Inscriptions

For epigraphy and inscriptions I’d recommend to look into these databases:

CGRN Collection of Greek Ritual Norms

Epigraphic Database Heidelberg [Latin & Greek]

PHI Greek Inscriptions

Lexicon of Greek Personal Names (LGPN)

Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum

Opera Graeca Adnotata (OGA)

Archaeological Cadastre of Greece

Attic Inscriptions Online

See also:

Wiki Commons | 6th-century BC inscriptions in Greece

Wiki Common | Archaic Greek inscriptions in Naxos

Wiki Commons | Archaic Greek inscriptions in Paros

Some more specific examples you can look into:

Mantiklos “Apollo” (700–675 BCE).

Nikandre dedication (Delos, c. 650 BCE).

“Nestor’s Cup” graffito (Pithekoussai, late 8th c.).

Dipylon prize inscription (Athens, late 8th c.).

Cant read or speak Ancient Greek? that's alright (me neither), check out these dictionaries

The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek Dictionary Online Translation

LSJ - Ancient Greek Dictionaries

Logeion

YouTube is also great to learn more about the Archaic Period :)

[temperamentalgreen]

Archaic Deo 🌾

[zeldahime]

Anacreon, poem 358

I read this poem in Female Homosexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome (Sandra Boehringer, 2007, translated to English by Anna Preger in 2021) in the section on representations of female desire in archaic Greek poetry and went OH MY GOD

[deathlessathanasia]

The Mythology of Perseus in the Archaic Period

„The Perseus myth is attested as early as the Iliad, where Zeus tells Hera that he is inflamed by her beauty even more than when he loved ‘Danaë, fair-ankled daughter of Acrisius, who gave birth to Perseus, conspicuous among all men’, as well as in Hesiod’s Theogony, which refers to Perseus’ beheading of Medusa and the consequential emergence of Chrysaor and the winged horse Pegasus. In each case the brevity of the reference indicates the familiarity of the tale. … A fragment of Alcaeus or Sappho reads ‘into the kibisis … he put’; the only other pre-Hellenistic occurrence of the unusual word κίβιϲιϲ denotes the pouch into which Perseus stashes Medusa’s head, so this might point towards a reference to the myth in the Aeolic poetic tradition too.

The clash with Medusa appears in art from the seventh century. A Proto-Attic neck amphora from Eleusis, dating to c. 670–660 and attributed to the Polyphemus Painter, and found in a grave, containing the skeleton of a child, depicts Perseus escaping with Medusa’s decapitated head, pursued by her Gorgon sisters (behind whom lies her headless body), and protected by Athena, who interposes herself between him and his foes. A painted terracotta metope from the temple of Apollo at Thermon (c. 630–620) shows him with cap, winged sandals, and sword, carrying the Gorgon’s head, which is in his pouch but partly visible. … A painted clay relief from Syracuse, dated to the second half of the seventh century, depicts Medusa with Pegasus tucked under her right arm, a clear allusion to the myth of her decapitation. The actual moment when she loses her head is portrayed on a Cycladic relief pithos from the same period, found at Thebes, probably in a grave: Perseus has the pouch slung over his shoulder and his cap on his head, as he swings his sword at Medusa, whose body combines those of a woman and a horse. The hero looks away as he deals the fatal blow, indicating that the artist knew the petrifying power of the Gorgon’s gaze. The same episode seems to have appeared on another pithos from this period, although only Perseus can now be seen on it; and on a fragmentary Protocorinthian cup from Aegina.

Perseus’ encounter with another foe, the sea-monster from which he rescues Andromeda, has a single, rather later, archaic attestation, on a Corinthian black-figure amphora dating to the second quarter of the sixth century: the monster is on the left, confronting Perseus, who is flinging rocks at it, wearing a cap, winged sandals, and carrying the pouch, while Andromeda stands behind him, her hands probably tied.

By the sixth century we encounter the first literary description of Perseus of any length, in the epic Shield attributed to Hesiod but actually composed long after his death. The poem describes an image of Perseus on the shield which gives the work its title; called the son of Danaë and armed with a sword, he is carrying the Gorgon’s head in his bag (specified as the κίβιϲιϲ), and is wearing winged sandals and the cap of Hades, while the other Gorgons pursue. … Another hexameter poem from this period wrongly attributed to Hesiod, the Catalogue of Women, provides the first attestations of two figures who play an important part in Perseus’ life: ‘Dictys and godlike Polydectes’, the sons of Magnes, brother of Macedon and son of Zeus and Thyia, Deucalion’s daughter. Acrisius’ wife, named Eurydice, also features; Danaë is said to be their daughter, and Perseus her son, though of his conception nothing is mentioned, the poem returning to Acrisius’ brother Proetus and his offspring. A tiny fragment from the same papyrus containing the word ‘gold(en)’ has been conjectured to come from a description of Danaë’s impregnation with Perseus by Zeus in the form of a shower of rain, a story familiar from later sources; it is however futile to build an interpretation on a single unexceptional word from an unknown context. A more convincing Hesiodic reference occurs in a different papyrus, which mentions Acrisius, followed by Perseus’ being sent into the sea in a chest, then Zeus, then ‘golden’. This, the earliest attestation of Perseus’ unusual voyage, implies other aspects of the myth again known thanks to subsequent accounts: Acrisius’ anger at Danaë’s pregnancy, the oracle telling him that his daughter’s son would kill him, the eventual rescue on Seriphos. Given the adjective, now crucially contextualised, the golden shower might be mentioned too. This papyrus is probably not from the Catalogue, but may be from the Megalai Ehoiai, which may have included Perseus’ gift of the Gorgon’s head to Athena.

…

In the visual arts depictions of Perseus’ escape from Medusa’s pursuing sisters continue to be attested in sixth-century black figure pottery, far more so than images of the killing of Medusa. Both scenes are attested in other media across the Greek world: for example, the cedar Chest of Cypselus (c. 590–570) in the temple of Hera at Olympia depicts Perseus escaping from Medusa’s sisters as they fly after him; the throne at Amyclae carved by Bathycles of Magnesia in second half of the sixth century portrays the killing of Medusa; and a late-sixth-century limestone metope from Temple C at Selinus shows Perseus cutting off the head of Medusa (who is holding a winged horse, i.e. Pegasus), with Athena standing by him as a supporter (as often on vases too). From the end of the century the clash is depicted on red-figure vases. Medusa is often presented as a beautiful woman, making the encounter more like an erotic abduction than the dispatching of a monster. But of Perseus after his return from his quest no trace remains from this period.”

- Euripides and the Myth of Perseus. Two Lost Greek Tragedies Illuminated by a New Papyrus by P.J. Finglass