· The Geometric period
The Geometric period was a time of startling innovation and transformation in Greek society. The population dramatically increased and 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.
· Early Archaic Period
During this period, the concept of the polis, the Greek city-state, became well developed. Tyrannical political figures seized control of many of these city-states in the 7th and 6th centuries.
· Archaic Period
The city-states continued to flourish during the Archaic period, in spite of internal political and social unrest. By the 6th century BC a majority of the most important and powerful city-states were ruled by tyrants. Commerce and the arts flourished under the auspices of these more or less benevolent dictators. Corinth especially prospered. Athens undertook a massive building program, and the region of Attica dominated the pottery market for about a century and a half with its high-quality pottery.
· Classical Period
The end of the Persian Wars marked the beginning of the Classical period. In this period Athens reached its greatest political and cultural heights: the full development of the democratic system of government under the Athenian statesman Pericles; the building of the Parthenon on the Acropolis; the creation of the tragedies of Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides; and the founding of the philosophical schools of Socrates and Plato.
· Hellenistic Period
Following the death of Alexander the Great, his kingdom was split into three by his generals. The Antigonid dynasty maintained control of mainland Greece. The Seleucids governed Syria, the largest portion of the territory, while the Ptolemies ruled the land of ancient Egypt.
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