Bronze Age Structures
This earlier type of Mycenaean elite burial is named for its shape and frequently contains rich grave goods.
shaft grave
metropolis
This writing system, introduced to the Greek-speaking world by Phoenicians and adapted to write the Greek language in different regions, represents a significant logistical improvement over the Linear B syllabary.
alphabet
This female poet from Mytilene wrote lyric poems that frequently address themes of desire and erotic love.
Sappho
chiefdoms / chieftainships
This word, meaning something like "big room," is the focal point of a Mycenaean palace. Kings probably received embassies, held audiences, and feasted in this room.
megaron
Modern colonization is different from the Archaic Period phenomenon; therefore the original Greek word apoikia ("home away from home") is a more neutral way to refer to one of these.
colony
This statue-type, whose name translates to "maiden" or "young woman," remains stiff and stylized throughout the Archaic Period.
kore
This genre of poetry, which crops up throughout the Greek-speaking world in the Archaic Period, was sung to the accompaniment of instruments such as the kithara (lyre) and the aulos (flute).
lyric poetry
This settlement in Messenia provides evidence of architecture from the Early Iron Age.
Nichoria
Large Minoan palatial complexes like the one at Cnossus were arranged around this structure, often decorated with frescoes.
central court
The Archaic Greeks were not the only people to send out colonies throughout the Mediterranean; they often competed or collaborated with this civilization from the Levant, whose colonies included Carthage.
Phoenicia
This Archaic Period statue type, now referred to by one of the Greek words for "youth" or "young man," bears striking similarities to Egyptian statuary.
kouros
The Spartan lyric poet Tyrtaeus sings about the conduct, values, and virtues of this style of warfare.
hoplite
Lefkandi
This site on the Greek mainland is home to the House of the Tiles, one of the foremost examples of architecture from the Corridor House Civilization.
Lerna
Upon settling in a new colony, a Greek colonists would receive one of these: the term for an "allotment" of land.
kleros
This poet's Theogony and Works and Days each bear striking resemblances to the Hurro-Hittite Myth of Kumarbi and Near Eastern wisdom literature (respectively).
Hesiod
This family of tyrants promoted cultural initiatives in Athens, such as rhapsodic contests at the Greater Panathenaia and patronage for poets like Anacreon and Simonides.
the Pisistratids
This style of pottery, characterized by its technical improvements over Submycenaean pottery and also its use of concentric circles and linear elements, also gives its name to the period from about 1050-900 BCE.
This later type of Mycenaean elite tomb, named for its beehive shape, represents a departure from the earlier type in that its monumental structure becomes a visible part of the citadel's landscape.
tholos
Greek colonization occurred in several waves, with primary migrations to the Italian peninsula and Sicily, and subsequent movement into Thrace and into the land surrounding this body of water to its east.
Black Sea
The Neo-Assyrian kings extended their empire as far west as this large island in the eastern Mediterranean, where Greeks, Phoenicians, and others encountered one another in various settlements.
Cyprus
Many scholars believe that the best way to describe the formation and evolution of the Homeric epics is through this process.
oral composition in performance
This institution, which involves a formalized, hereditary, and sacred alliance between families who live in different geographical areas, appears in Homeric poetry and may have developed during the early Iron Age.