ABSTRACT
The Archaic age saw the birth of Greek civilisation. In those years, to the flourishing of the cultures of the Minoans on Crete and of the Mycenaeans, initially in the Peloponnese and then in different areas of the Greek world, followed a period of cultural decline, known as the 'Dark Ages', characterised by destruction and profound change. Signs of recovery began to appear around the year 1000 BCE, at the outset of the so-called phase of 'early Archaism'. Athens, which had been a Mycenaean centre, claimed the autochthony of its inhabitants and, according to tradition, was formed as a political unit by King Theseus, the architect of synoecism. Turning to the sixth century, there are three important moments in the political history of Athens: the archonship of Solon, the tyranny of Peisistratus and his sons, and the reform of Cleisthenes. Sparta, a city of Laconia, had originally been open to contact with the outside world, to trade, to colonial initiatives.
