Ancient Greece

===Archaic period===
{{Main|Archaic Greece}}
[[File:Prothesis Dipylon Painter A517.jpg|thumb|Dipylon Vase of the late [[Geometric art|Geometric period]], or the beginning of the Archaic period, {{circa|750 BC}}.|239x239px]]
The archaic period, lasting from approximately 800 to 500 BC, saw the culmination of political and social developments which had begun in the Greek dark age, with the ''polis'' (city-state) becoming the most important unit of political organisation in Greece.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=65}}</ref>  The absence of powerful states in Greece after the collapse of Mycenaean power, and the geography of Greece, where many settlements were separated from their neighbours by mountainous terrain, encouraged the development of small independent city-states.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=67&ndash;68}}</ref>  Several Greek states saw tyrants rise to power in this period, most famously at [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]] from 657 BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=103}}</ref>  The period also saw the founding of Greek colonies around the Mediterranean, with [[Euboea]]n settlements at [[Al-Mina]] in the east as early as 800 BC, and [[Ischia]] in the west by 775.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=69&ndash;70}}</ref>  Increasing contact with non-Greek peoples in this period, especially in the Near East, inspired developments in art and architecture, the adoption of coinage, and the development of the Greek alphabet.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=73&ndash;4}}</ref>

Athens developed its democratic system over the course of the archaic period.  Already in the seventh century, the right of all citizen men to attend the [[ecclesia (ancient Greece)|assembly]] appears to have been established.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=108}}</ref>  After a failed coup led by [[Cylon of Athens]] around 636 BC, [[Draco (lawgiver)|Draco]] was appointed to establish a code of laws in 621.  This failed to reduce the political tension between the poor and the elites, and in 594 [[Solon]] was given the authority to enact another set of reforms, which attempted to balance the power of the rich and the poor.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=109&ndash;110}}</ref>  In the middle of the sixth century, [[Pisistratus]] established himself as a tyrant, and after his death in 527 his son [[Hippias]] inherited his position; by the end of the sixth century he had been overthrown and [[Cleisthenes]] carried out further democratising reforms.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|pp=112&ndash;113}}</ref>

In Sparta, a political system with two kings, a [[gerousia|council of elders]], and five [[ephors]] developed over the course of the eighth and seventh century.  According to Spartan tradition, this constitution was established by the legendary lawgiver [[Lycurgus (lawgiver)|Lycurgus]].<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=96}}</ref>  Over the course of the [[First Messenian War|first]] and [[second Messenian war]]s, Sparta subjugated the neighbouring region of [[Messenia]], enserfing the population.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2013|p=98}}</ref>  

In the sixth century, Greek city-states began to develop formal relationships with one another, where previously individual rulers had relied on personal relationships with the elites of other cities.<ref>{{harvnb|Osborne|2009|p=270}}</ref>  Towards the end of the archaic period, Sparta began to build a series of alliances, the [[Peloponnesian League]], with cities including [[Corinth]], [[Elis]], and [[Megara]],<ref>{{harvnb|Hammond|1982|p=356}}</ref> isolating Messenia and reinforcing Sparta's position against [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], the other major power in the Peloponnese.<ref>{{harvnb|Osborne|2009|p=275}}</ref>  Other alliances in the sixth century included those between Elis and [[Heraea (Arcadia)|Heraea]] in the Peloponnese; and between the Greek colony [[Sybaris]] in southern Italy, its allies, and the Serdaioi.<ref>{{harvnb|Osborne|2009|p=271}}</ref>