Time Periods
Geometric
Period
Circa 900-700
B.C.
The Geometric period was a time of startling innovation and
transformation in Greek society. The population dramatically
increased and proto-urban life re-emerged, bringing with it
overcrowding and political tensions. The Greeks moved to new lands to
the east and west where they founded commercial trading posts and
colonies.
Written language, lost with the passing of the Mycenaean
civilization, re-emerged with the adoption of the Semitic alphabetic
script, encountered through contacts with the Phoenicians. It is
probably in this same period that the epic poems of Homer, such as
the Iliad, became widely known and were recorded.
Sanctuaries,
sacred zones devoted to the worship of deities, developed. As the
worship of the gods became formalized, so the need arose for temples
to house the deities´ statues.
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Attic Horse Pyxis
Late Geometric Ia period (ca. 750 BC)
30-41-1
In Attica around the middle of the 8th century BC the
practice of cremating the dead was almost exclusively
replaced by inhumation. Large toilet boxes such as this are
found in Late Geometric period graves of women, for the most
part, and probably indicate the high status of the
individual. The horses on the lid are typical of the more
elaborate of these vessels, and the linear patterns,
especially the meander, are hallmarks of the decorative
schemes of this period.
H. 24.0; Dia. 32.0 cm. Photo by Maria Daniels for the
Perseus Project (99k)
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The Ancient Greek World Index
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