远古希腊（Archaic Greece，800-490BC）时代，古希腊半岛上开始形成了大大小小的城邦（Polis 或者poleis），作为相对独立的政治单元。那个时代，城邦遍布在欧洲和中亚的其他地方，Polis在英文中又被称为City State或Citizen State，这也是为什么我们称其为城邦了。每个城邦实质上都有自己的国家机构，他们或许会由于外敌入侵而团结起来，诸如公元前480左右年共同抵抗薛西斯（Xerxes）的波斯入侵，留给我们后人的便是那些300斯巴达壮士的英勇传说，但这些城邦之间也会战争不断，诸如雅典（Athens）和斯巴达(Sparta)这两个对后人影响最大的城邦之间长达三十年的伯罗奔尼撒半岛战争（The Peloponnesian War，431–404 BC)。
The archaic period in Greece (650 BC – 480 BC) is a period of Ancient Greek history. The term originated in the 18th century and has been standard since. This term arose from the study of Greek art, where it refers to styles mainly of surface decoration and plastique, falling in time between Geometric Art and the art of Classical Greece. As it is transitional to the latter it is considered "archaic." Since the Archaic period followed the Greek Dark Ages, and saw significant advancements in political theory, and the rise of democracy, philosophy, theatre, poetry, as well as the revitalization of the written language (which had been lost during the Dark Ages), the term archaic was extended to these aspects as well.
Most recently Anthony Snodgrass embraced and extended this holistic approach suggesting that "historians extend their interests from political and military events to social and economic processes" and "classical archaeologists turn from the outstanding works of art to the totality of material products ...." The Archaic Period is thus a "rapprochement" of various threads and is not just "archaic" but is "a complete episode in its own right." Michael Grant also objects to the term archaic "because it possesses the dictionary significance of 'primitive' and 'antiquated.' No such pejorative epithets are appropriate for the early Greeks, whose doings and sayings added up to one of the most creative periods in world history."
Snodgrass defines the termini of the Archaic Period as a "structural revolution", meaning a sudden slope up of population and material goods that occurred with mid-point at 750 BC, and the "intellectual revolution" of classical Greece. The end of archaism is conventionally defined as Xerxes' invasion of Greece in 480 BC. It should not be thought for a moment, however, that all the various threads begin and end on these dates. For example, red-figure pottery, which characterized the classical Greek period, began in the archaic. Snodgrass says: "... it must always be borne in mind that such demarcations of history ... although reasonably acceptable for the convenience of later ages, are entirely artificial categories