Interpreting

the Seventh Century BC

Tradition and Innovation

Edited by

Xenia Charalambidou and Catherine Morgan

Archaeopress Archaeology
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Foreground: dinos or louterion depicting Herakles killing the Centaur Nessos while abducting Deianeira
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Background: concentration of unpainted jugs massed together in the ash altar (photograph: V. Aravantinos).

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 Contents

Editors’ Preface ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� iii

Notes on Contributors ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ iv

1. Introduction: interpreting the seventh century BC �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������1

Xenia Charalambidou and Catherine Morgan

2. Introduction: can one speak of the seventh century BC? �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������9

Roland Étienne

3. Ceramics, analytical scales and cultural histories of seventh-century Crete �����������������������������������������������������15

Antonis Kotsonas

4. The birthplace of Greek monumental sculpture revisited ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������24

Georgia Kokkorou-Alevras

5. On women and on lions �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������31

Eva Simantoni-Bournia

6. Greek art in the seventh century BC: the example of bronzes from Delphi ��������������������������������������������������������38
Hélène Aurigny

7. Al Mina and changing patterns of trade: the evidence from the eastern Mediterranean ������������������������������47
Alexander Vacek

8. Cypriot evidence in seventh-century Rhodes: discontinuity or change? ������������������������������������������������������������60

Giorgos Bourogiannis

9. Faience in seventh-century Greece: egyptianizing ‘bric a brac’ or a useful paradigm

for relations with Egypt? ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������71
Virginia Webb

10. A sea of luxury: luxury items and dyes of marine origin in the Aegean during the seventh century BC �������80
Tatiana Theodoropoulou

11. Coarse, plain and cooking ware: seventh-century innovation for old-fashioned pots ����������������������������������93
Jean-Sébastien Gros

12. East Greek pottery workshops in the seventh century BC: tracing regional styles ��������������������������������������100
Michael Kerschner

13. Old Smyrna: a window onto the seventh-century painted wares from the Anglo-Turkish excavations
(1948-1951) �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������114
Stavros A� Paspalas

14. Euboea and the Euboean Gulf region: pottery in context �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������123
Xenia Charalambidou

15. Parian ceramics of the seventh century BC in Cycladic cemeteries and sanctuaries�����������������������������������150
Photini Zaphiropoulou

16. Beyond Athens and Corinth. Pottery distribution in the seventh-century Aegean: the case of Kythnos ���160
Maria Koutsoumpou

i
17. Conservatism versus innovation: architectural forms in early Archaic Greece ��������������������������������������������173
Alexander Mazarakis Ainian

18. Fortifications in the seventh century. Where and why?��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������186

Rune Frederiksen

19. Corinthian sanctuaries and the question of cult buildings���������������������������������������������������������������������������������193

Catherine Morgan

20. Achaian interaction and mobility in the area of the Corinthian Gulf during the seventh century BC ���212
Anastasia Gadolou

21. The sanctuaries of Herakles and Apollo Ismenios at Thebes: new evidence���������������������������������������������������221
Vassilis Aravantinos

22. A group of small vases with Subgeometric – early Archaic decoration from the sanctuary of
Herakles at Thebes �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������231
Kyriaki Kalliga

23. Cult in Attica. The case of the sanctuary of Artemis Mounichia �����������������������������������������������������������������������245
Lydia Palaiokrassa-Kopitsa

24. Athenian burial practices and cultural change: the Rundbau early plot in the Kerameikos cemetery
revisited�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������260
Anna Maria D’Onofrio

25. Special burial treatment for the ‘heroized’ dead in the Attic countryside. The case of the elite
cemetery of Vari ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������281
Alexandra Alexandridou

26. Cumae in Campania during the seventh century BC ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������293

Matteo D’Acunto

27. Cultural dynamics in the seventh-century Sibaritide (Southern Italy) ������������������������������������������������������������330

Jan Kindberg Jacobsen, Sine Grove Saxkjær and Gloria Paola Mittica

28. From innovation to tradition: seventh-century Sicily ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������339

Gillian Shepherd

29. An early orientalizing spouted krater from Naxos on Sicily �������������������������������������������������������������������������������349

Maria Costanza Lentini

30. The city of Mende during the late eighth and seventh centuries BC ����������������������������������������������������������������355
Sophia Moschonissioti

31. Panhellenes at Methone, Pieria (c. 700 BC): new inscriptions, graffiti/dipinti, and (trade)marks ����������364
Yannis Tzifopoulos, Manthos Bessios and Antonis Kotsonas

32. Frontiers in seventh-century epigraphy: aspects of diffusion and consolidation ����������������������������������������375

Alan Johnston

33. Skilled in the Muses’ lovely gifts: lyric poetry and the rise of the community in the seventh-century
Aegean����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������382
Jan Paul Crielaard

Bibliography �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������393
General Index ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������443
Topographic Index �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������447

ii
 17. Conservatism versus innovation: architectural forms in early
Archaic Greece

Alexander Mazarakis Ainian

Abstract: This chapter highlights the mixed dynamics of seventh-century architecture� The century brought great advances
in architectural forms as well as in methods and techniques� At the same time, as far as most aspects of everyday life were
concerned, the material world of the seventh century would not have differed greatly from the preceding century, since mon-
umental edifices (mostly temples) appear already in the last quarter of the eighth century� Most of these still stood and were
used throughout the seventh� Yet several of these earlier buildings would have already appeared old fashioned by the middle of
the century� The seventh century was thus an era of high contrasts, where a humble oval hut with a mud brick superstructure
and a straw roof could have stood next to a monumental temple built with ashlar masonry, its walls decorated with frescoes,
and covered with roof tiles� Thus I discuss the possible reasons behind different attitudes to the built environment between the
eighth and seventh centuries BC�

The seventh century marked the appearance of a number of innovations in architectural forms, building materials
and techniques, especially in the public domain. Yet alongside these changes, we observe the persistence of
architectural forms which had characterized the Geometric period and reach back even to Protogeometric, mostly
(though not exclusively) in the domestic sphere. These older survivals denote a conservatism which makes the
seventh century appear not so very different from the eighth. In this chapter I will discuss the possible reasons
behind different attitudes to the built environment between the eighth and seventh centuries BC.

Archaeological visibility?

The seventh century has a lower archaeological visibility in settlement patterns and architectural remains than the
preceding Geometric (see e.g. Osborne 1989 on Attica; Kotsonas 2002 on Crete). There are several possible reasons
for this. This was a period of unrest and clashes which may have involved several communities and may have
resulted in casualties and the abandonment of sites. The long-lasting Lelantine War naturally comes to mind, and
polyandria of the kind discovered at Paroikia on Paros attest to the potentially disastrous effects of such wars on the
small communities of those days (Zaphiropoulou 1999; 2006a). The act of synoikism (the nucleation within larger
settlements of populations previously dispersed in smaller hamlets) was doubtless behind the abandonment of
a number of sites (Snodgrass 1977). It is interesting to note that several settlements were abandoned around 700
BC in areas which were active in colonization, such as in Euboea (Xeropolis/Lefkandi) and Andros (Zagora and the
‘shrinking’ of Ypsili). Indeed, another reason for the diminution in data, especially in the earlier part of the seventh
century, could be the foundation of colonies which led to a drop in population within the mother cities. Other
factors which doubtless contributed to the uneven picture of the seventh century which we have today include
changes in burial customs and a reduction in grave offerings, problems in drawing a clear dividing line between
Late Geometric and Subgeometric pottery styles in certain areas, difficulties in dating with absolute precision
the construction and abandonment of a structure due to the circumstances of numerous excavations, and other
archaeological uncertainties.

As a case study combining these points we may consider the situation in the central Euboean Gulf. The decline and
final abandonment of the promontory of Xeropolis/Lefkandi may be explained in part by the Lelantine war (Th.
1.15.3; Str. 10.1.12), the topographical limitations of the site which did not allow its expansion into a polis, and the
colonization movement both towards the northwest Aegean and the west. At the same time, Eretria and Oropos
reached their peak, perhaps due to an influx of people from Xeropolis in a probable process of synoikism (Mazarakis
Ainian 2012a; 2012b). At both sites, however, a short-lived decline followed a generation or two later, perhaps as
a result of the effects of the Lelantine war and a demographic decline conditioned by the foundation of distant
colonies (Mazarakis Ainian 2012a; 2012b). I have indeed argued that Oropos (probably to be identified with Homeric
Graia, Il. 2.498) seems to have participated in the colonization movement in the west, especially in the foundation
of Pithekoussai (Ridgway 1992) under the ‘flag’ of the Eretrians, to use the words of Michael Sakellariou (1978: 26).
The same likely applies for the foundation of colonies in the Thermaic Gulf and the Chalkidiki. A number of the last
inhabitants of Xeropolis/Lefkandi probably participated in these ventures as well.

If Xeropolis/Lefkandi appears to have been abandoned for these reasons, what was the fate of Eretria and Oropos?
A temporary recession in the early part of the seventh century is observed at Eretria (Charalambidou 2006) as well

173
Alexander Mazarakis Ainian

as Oropos (Figure 17.1). This is probably

due in part to the persistence of the
Geometric style of pottery decoration
which often renders Late Geometric-
early Archaic strata difficult to separate
and may lead to confusion (in general
on Archaic Oropos, see Charalambidou
2008; 2011). But unless there was a major
shift in the location of the settlement
at Oropos, the data at present suggest
a population decrease after 700 BC

Figure 17�1 Oropos (Attica). The settlement during the Archaic period. (© A. Mazarakis Ainian; plan: A. Gounaris [2011]).
which may be partly due to the same
kind of reasons, i.e. the foundation
of colonies and the Lelantine war. At
the same time, the urban character of
the site changed drastically. A grid of
streets approximately at right angles
seems to have been planned and partly
constructed. Many of the spaces bordered
by these streets were left vacant,
perhaps for a future building project
which was never realized, for the site
was abandoned at the end of the Archaic
period following disastrous floods. Other
quarters, like the area around a large
oval Building ΛΔ, continued practically
unchanged, incorporated within the
new grid plan.1

In the Cyclades, several cases illustrate

the same phenomena. At Paros, the
site of Koukounaries is a good example
of an Early Iron Age settlement which
continued into the first half of the
seventh century but was then peacefully
abandoned mid-century, presumably
during the synoikism of the polis of
Paros (Figure 17.2) (Schilardi 2002;
2016). Likewise, Zagora on Andros was
peacefully abandoned around 700 BC
(Cambitoglou 1991). Here too, the reason
was probably an act of synoikism (the
later capital of the island, at modern
Palaiopolis, lies a few kilometres to the
north), though we cannot exclude the
possibility that part of the population
left in search of promising new lands
in the Chalkidiki (see Balkas 1998, with
various articles on the Andrian colonies).
On the other hand, Ypsili, to the north of
Palaiopolis, is a rare case of a Geometric
settlement which continued into the
Archaic period. Here too, however,
it seems that the eighth-century

1 
The area was excavated between 2008 and 2010,
with annual reports published in the Praktika of the
Archaeological Society of Athens�

174
 17. Conservatism versus innovation: architectural forms in early Archaic Greece

Figure 17�2 Koukounaries (Paros). The Early Archaic settlement.

(Mazarakis Ainian 1997: fig. 320, based on plans by D. Schilardi and I. Morris).

settlement was more extensive and prosperous than that of the following centuries, when the town diminished in
size and was contained within the fortified upper plateau (Televantou 1999; 2008).

With these points in mind, let us turn to architecture. The corpus of early Archaic buildings (Lang 1996) is far less
impressive than that of the preceding Geometric period (Drerup 1969; Fagerström 1988; Mazarakis Ainian 1997).
In general, when one tries to isolate seventh-century buildings one is faced with the problem of recognizing new
structures. A turning point lies approximately at the turn of the eighth–seventh century, c. 700 BC, when it is possible
to enumerate several buildings. We often tend to classify these as Late Geometric, although in fact several were built
in the transitional period between the two centuries and continued to be used or occupied partly or throughout
the seventh century: the hekatompedon at Ano Mazaraki, or the Sacred House at Mt Tourkovouni are such cases at
sanctuaries, and Buildings Θ and ΛΔ at Oropos (Figures 17.3-4) are good examples from a settlement. The same
holds true for entire settlements, such as Emporio on Chios (Boardman 1967), or Lathouriza in Attica (Lauter 1985b),
which fall basically in the seventh century yet are usually incorporated in studies of the Geometric period. This

175
Alexander Mazarakis Ainian

is not to mention the common

problem of a lack of up-to-date
publications and the fact that
we often have to rely on brief
preliminary reports with very
vague chronology.

Architecture

The seventh century marked

the appearance of a number
of innovations in architectural
form, building materials and
techniques, in both secular
and sacred contexts, and in the
public domain. The changes
did not occur suddenly,
nor were they universally
introduced and applied. The
extant material evidence, and
the example of architecture in
particular, shows that during
the seventh century Greece
apparently ran at different
speeds, from place to place and
within the same place.

Houses and town planning

It is highly likely that seventh-

century domestic architectural
forms did not differ greatly
from those of the previous era.
From the elongated house of the
Protogeometric period, which
consisted of a series of rooms
one behind the other, affording
practically no privacy, domestic
architecture developed during
Figure 17�3 Oropos (Attica). Oval Building ΛΔ in the West Quarter. (© A. Mazarakis the Geometric period, and
Ainian; plan: A. Gounaris [2011]). especially during the eighth
century, into what I have
conventionally called the autonomous oikos, formed of several free-standing structures organized within an enclosed
space, thus allowing a greater degree of privacy. Finally, from the early seventh century onwards, the multi-roomed
house articulated around a central courtyard (the pastas type) became more common and would eventually characterize
housing across the Greek world (Mazarakis Ainian 2002a; 2002b; 2004a). These changes in domestic architecture and
the organization of private or family space seem to relate to changing social conditions and gender distinctions (Fusaro
1982: 13-15; Morris 1998: 29; 2000: 149; Nevett 1999: esp. chapters 1-2; Whitley 1996). Yet even if gender distinctions did
become stronger during the eighth century and women were gradually excluded as a result of the formation of what Ian
Morris has called a middling ideology (Morris 2000: 113-19), the long previous tradition impeded rapid adaptation of the
architectural forms in order to keep up with and facilitate these changes. Morris rightly emphasizes that houses are not
only expensive to construct but also represent an emotional repository. It would not, therefore, have been so easy to build
new ones just to follow a new trend (Morris 1998: 29). I have argued (Mazarakis Ainian 2007b) that in the places where it
was customary to construct curvilinear houses it was not easy to switch immediately to follow the social changes which
affected the form of Greek houses from the Late Geometric period into the seventh century. An intermediate solution in
these areas was to group independent structures together and surround them with a peribolos, thus providing privacy
on two levels, within the household and towards the outside world. Gradually, when conditions allowed, these oikoi were
replaced by rectangular courtyard or pastas houses. This may have taken several generations to accomplish. The case of
Building ΛΔ at Oropos is typical (Figures 17.3-4): the building was erected at the very end of the Geometric period, and

176
 17. Conservatism versus innovation: architectural forms in early Archaic Greece

Figure 17�4 Oropos

(Attica). Oval Building
ΛΔ in the West Quarter.
(© A. Mazarakis Ainian
[2010]).

despite the fact that its function (civic or religious) remains uncertain, it was used and piously preserved for some two
centuries. The dedication at the Samian Heraion of house models of all forms, apsidal, oval and rectangular, spanning the
Late Geometric to the Archaic period (Seiler 1986), is indicative of the mixed situation which apparently characterized
domestic architecture throughout the Archaic period and especially in the seventh century.

Alongside the preservation of earlier housing, which inevitably had an impact on town planning, a few new well-planned
settlements made their appearance, such as Vroulia on the southern tip of Rhodes (Figures 17.5-6). Yet the kind of
orderly planning observed at Vroulia did not have an immediate follow up. Despite the fact that Rhodes was one of
the places where Hippodameian town planning was applied during the fifth century, no specific link can be detected
between the early planning of Vroulia and that of the later city of Rhodes. Indeed, during the seventh century, cases
such as Vroulia stand out as exceptional and have not yet been adequately explained (Morris [1987: chapter 7] suggests a
rural settlement instead of the mercenary camp proposed by the excavator, Kinch [1914: 5]; criticized by Sørensen 2002).
An important factor in such architectural innovation was doubtless the foundation of a settlement on virgin ground, as
is often the case in the western colonies. Indeed, despite a general development at the beginning of the early Archaic
period towards the gradual replacement of curvilinear architectural forms with rectangular, this process was slow and
variable in pace (Old Smyrna: Akurgal 1983; Miletos: Morris 1998: 22 and n. 31, with references; Eretria: Mazarakis Ainian
1987; Oropos [Figures 17.1, 3-4]: see below). In a number of settlements, however, we can detect features which betray
the existence of overall urban planning, even if this is not obvious. This is the case, for instance, at Geometric Zagora
(Coucouzeli 2007) and Archaic Azoria on Crete (Figure 17.7) (Haggis 2012), where planning features a common spinal wall
(much more evident in the case of Vroulia).

The colonial milieu, on the other side of the expanding Greek world, would have also been an exception to the
‘emotional’ attitude to house construction described above; it was likely easier for the first generations of colonists
to have selected rectilinear forms in their new homeland, even if they had lived in apsidal or oval cottages in the old
world (see for example Megara Hyblaea, Ortygia, and Sicilian Naxos [Gras et al. 2004; Procelli 1983; Leighton 2000:
esp. 34-6; Lentini 2001: 6-7; 2011]). This does not, however, hold true at the earliest Greek settlement in the west,
Pithekoussai. There the earliest edifices were oval, apsidal and rectangular (Buchner 1970-1; Klein 1972; Ridgway 1992),
and in the Ischian countryside ‘primitive’ architectural forms were maintained throughout the Archaic period, as at
Punta Chiarito (Gialanella 1994; De Caro and Gialanella 1998). The case of Pithekoussai is straightforward to explain,
since its early foundation date precedes the period when rectangular architectural forms started to replace curvilinear
ones in the Euboean homeland (Mazarakis Ainian 1987).

Temples

Despite the fact that the seventh century saw the floruit of several sacred places, the visibility of religious architecture was,
as noted, low (see for instance the statistical charts in Nevett [2010: 29 fig. 2.3, 40 fig. 2.9]), though that of dedications less
so (note, for example, the Attic peak sanctuaries). Nevertheless, there was a boom in architecture with the construction
of elaborate temples and auxiliary buildings at a number of sanctuaries.

177
Alexander Mazarakis Ainian

Figure 17�5 Vroulia (Rhodes). The urban plan and houses. (Hoepfner 1999: 96).

The first monumental temples appear

towards the end of the eighth century,
several being roughly 100 feet long
(hekatompeda). At Olympia, it was
believed until recently that the temples
were latecomers, but more recent
research has led to the suggestion
that there may have been an early
monumental apsidal temple (Bau 7),
although its precise date and function
remain uncertain (Rambach 2002). In
the suburban sanctuary of Hera on
Samos, the earliest of a series of altars
has been dated to the end of the ninth
century, while the first hekatompedon
was constructed 100 years later. An
impressive stone bench probably ran
along the long sides of the building,
suggesting the presence of numerous
worshippers probably for ritual meals
inside the temple. During the seventh
century the temple was rebuilt along
the same lines, with a stoa, among the
earliest in the Greek world, next to it
(for references, see Mazarakis Ainian
1997: 199-202). Figure 17�6 Vroulia
(Rhodes). Graphic
At the suburban sanctuary of Apollo reconstruction of the
at Kalapodi (Figure 17.8), a new urban plan and houses.
apsidal ‘South Temple’ was built (Hoepfner 1999: 198).
at the turn of the eighth–seventh

178
 17. Conservatism versus innovation: architectural forms in early Archaic Greece

century, this time monumental in size. Another even

more monumental temple was built immediately to
the north. Both temples remained in use until the first
quarter of the sixth century. Excavation of the South
Temple has brought to light fragments of frescoes
depicting hoplites in battle, with which the interior was
decorated in the mid-seventh century (Figure 17.9)
(Niemeier 2009; Niemeier et al. 2012). Thus, in addition
to the well-known examples of early temples with
painted decoration such as the temple of Poseidon at
Isthmia (Broneer 1971, likely on the exterior though),
the temple of Apollo at Corinth (Robinson 1976b;
Mazarakis Ainian 1997: 156, with further references)
and the second hekatompedon of Hera at Samos, this is
the fourth early Archaic temple known to have been
decorated with wall paintings (Moorman 2011: 43-4).

The case of Eretria is highly instructive, as it is the only

instance of a monumental urban temple built during
the last quarter of the eighth century BC (Figure 17.10).
This apsidal hekatompedon (Ed2) occupied a previously
residential area where sacrifices and ensuing large
scale banquets around the altar (St12) would have taken
place throughout the eighth century. The apsidal and
oval buildings in this area appear to have been elite
dwellings. One apsidal structure (Ed150), however, may
have had a communal function from the beginning,
perhaps for ritual banquets. This hypothesis rests on
two main arguments: the orientation of Ed150 towards
the altar and the presence of a clay base at the back of
the building upon which rested the foot of a large Attic
Middle Geometric II krater. Ed150, which dates from
the beginning of the Late Geometric period, was still
in use when the hekatompedon (Ed2) was built, towards Figure 17�7 Azoria (Crete). The Archaic settlement.
the end of the same period. It is now unclear whether (© D. Haggis).

Figure 17�8 Kalapodi

(Phocis). The
superimposed South
temples. (© W.-D.
Niemeier).

179
Alexander Mazarakis Ainian

Ed1 (the so-called Daphnephoreion)

was still in use at the same time,
though the excavators argue that
it was not. If, however, Ed150
continued to serve as a banqueting
hall after the construction of the
hekatompedon, it would not be easy
to accept that the new edifice also
served for such ritual banquets.
However, the abandonment of
Ed150 soon after the construction
of the hekatompedon suggests that
its function was no longer required,
as the ritual banquets, presumably
now attended by larger groups
of worshippers, probably shifted
inside the hekatompedon. The latter
doubtless also served to hold and
keep safe valuable votive offerings, a
few of which were found fallen on the
Figure 17�9 Kalapodi (Phocis). Wall painting fragments from the early Archaic
South Temple, reconstruction, c. mid-seventh century. (© W.-D. Niemeier; floor (in general see Mazarakis Ainian
reconstruction: B. Niemeier and W.-D. Niemeier). 1997: 57-61, 102-3; Verdan 2013).

The case of Eretria and the

archaeological record in general
shows that Early Iron Age temples
were closely associated with the ritual
activities which followed animal
sacrifices at the altar, functioning as
ritual dining halls or hestiatoria. Ritual
meals are of course attested in the open
air too, as at Samos or Isthmia (Kron
1998; Morgan 1999a: 319-20). Early
evidence of dining within the temple
is found at Temple B at Kommos on
Crete (Shaw and Shaw 2000) and the
Late Geometric monumental Temple II
in the extra urban sanctuary of Hyria
on Naxos (Lambrinoudakis 1991). The
interior of the latter is divided into
four naves by three rows of wooden
columns. Banquets took place around
the hearth with banqueters seated on
benches along the side walls. Early in
the seventh century this temple was
rebuilt on the same lines but with
three naves: the new building (Temple
III) served the same functions as its
predecessor. It is possible that one
reason why temple size began to be
increased during the second half of
the eighth century BC was to ensure
adequate space for the growing
number of participants in these sacred
communal banquets, as at Eretria.
Figure 17�10 Eretria (Euboea). The sanctuary of Apollo towards the end of the It is also interesting to note that the
Geometric period. layout of the interior colonnades
(© Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece; plan S. Verdan). of the temple in two parallel rows

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 17. Conservatism versus innovation: architectural forms in early Archaic Greece

Figure 17�11 Rakita (Ano Mazaraki). Apsidal peripteral temple. (© M. Petropoulos).

was already in place in the Cyclades by the first quarter of the seventh century. In this context, the hypothesis of the
existence of a ‘Pre-Oikos’ of the Naxians on Delos acquires additional credibility (Courbin 1980; Lambrinoudakis 2005;
contra Kalpaxis 1990 and Gruben 1997).

Late eighth- and seventh-century monumental temples, like those at Samos, Hyria, Delos (?), Eretria or Kalapodi,
were doubtless impressive, both in their general exterior appearance but also in their interior furnishings and
decoration. They illustrate what could be built and dedicated to the gods at this time. One major innovation of this
transitional era was the peristasis. One of the earliest examples of a monumental peripteral temple is that dedicated
to Apollo at Zarakes in southern Euboea (Chatzidimitriou 2003-4a). Both the estimated monumental dimensions
of the Late Geometric temple and the stoa of wooden posts provide a possible indirect link with the much earlier
‘heroon’ at Toumba, Lefkandi (Coulton 1993; Lemos 2002: 140-6). Indeed, the existence of posts surrounding edifices
is characteristic of Geometric architecture both in Euboea and at Oropos across the gulf (Mazarakis Ainian 2001); the
origins of the peristyle of the Greek temple could lie in this feature. Even in remote places, like the mountainous rural
sanctuary of Artemis at Rakita (Ano Mazaraki) in Achaia, monumental but ‘idiosyncratic’ temples began to be built
(Figure 17.11). The Rakita temple was a Late Geometric apsidal hekatompedon with a rear ‘adyton’ and an unusual
peristyle of wooden columns on independent stone bases (instead of a continuous stylobate). The five columns of
the porch surround the facade in a semi-circle (Petropoulos 2002). This unusual arrangement is repeated in the
horizontally curved front of the originally apsidal Late Geometric temple at Nikoleika (ancient Helike), probably
to be identified with the temple of Helikonian Poseidon mentioned in the epics (Il. 8.203; 20.403-5). The curve is
a continuous stylobate of ashlar blocks which supported wooden columns. This unusual feature may represent
a local Achaian architectural style (Kolia and Gadolou 2011; Kolia 2011: 203). Such temples, while monumental
and innovative in several respects, seem to cling to the outdated oval shape, and are thus indicative of the mixed
dynamics surrounding the architectural development in a changing era.

Undeniably, the seventh century saw major innovations in architectural forms, building materials and techniques,
in both secular and sacred contexts. Temple architecture is characterized by monumentality, the use of worked
stone, the invention and use of roof tiles, the adoption of the peristyle, the elaborate decoration both of the interior
and the exterior. The temple of Apollo at Corinth, and the peristyle temples at Isthmia, Argos, Thermon (see
recently Papapostolou 2012), Samos (Mazarakis Ainian 1997: 199-202), and Ephesos (Bammer 1990; 1991; 2008a and
2008b; Kerschner and Prochaska 2011) are typical of this architectural blossoming. In the northeast Peloponnese,
around 700 BC and into the first half of the seventh century, we observe innovations and experimentation in temple

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Alexander Mazarakis Ainian

architecture and a great advance in the choice of materials and building techniques, together with an increasing
communal investment of wealth, leading to as-yet-unparalleled achievements. The temple of Apollo at Corinth
was built of dressed stone blocks and had what were probably some of the earliest post-Bronze Age terracotta
roof tiles (Morgan, this volume). The first securely identified peripteral temple in the Corinthia was constructed
one generation later at the sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia (Broneer 1971). As noted above, this building was
decorated with coloured panels, creating an awe-inspiring overall appearance. The evolution of Isthmia from a
Protogeometric open-air sanctuary to this early Archaic shrine is highly instructive for our understanding of the
rise of Greek sanctuaries (Morgan 1999a and in this volume). The roughly contemporary peripteral temple at the
Argive Heraion, Prosymna, is based on a terrace founded on a massive wall in pseudocyclopean masonry, dated to c.
700 BC (Mazarakis Ainian 1997: 156-8, with references). It has been suggested that the chosen masonry style might
reflect a desire on the part of the Argives to emphasize their heroic ancestry (Wright 1982).

Gradually the peristyle became one of the main characteristics of the Greek temple. The question is whether it first
appeared in the northeast Peloponnese or in Ionia or Sicily, or whether its origin can be related to a common source.
The data seem to indicate that its appearance was not a homogeneous phenomenon. The origin of the Ionian peristyle
should be sought in the east and that of the northern Peloponnese in Egypt, which likely also provided the inspiration
for the Doric temple (see however Wilson Jones 2014: chapters 2, 3 and 5). The case of the temple of Artemis at Ephesos
is instructive. Beneath the temple dated to the reign of Croesus lay remains of an older peripteral temple dated in the
middle of the seventh century (Bammer 1990; 1991; Kerschner and Prochaska 2011). The interior columns, as well as
those of the peristyle, were made prior to the temple walls, suggesting that they might have been intended to protect
the structure from the weather. This recalls the peristyle
of the so-called heroon at Lefkandi some three centuries
earlier, which might have also had a purely functional
role (Coulton 1993). Similar ‘stoas’ formed by wooden
posts surrounded apsidal and oval buildings in the eighth
century at Eretria and Oropos (Mazarakis Ainian 2001).
The examples noted above suggest that the peristyle
had its roots in domestic architecture. How and why this
functional element of Greek monumental architecture
acquired a symbolic character which generally limited its
use to temples remains an open question.

Yet at the same time that we witness such remarkable

Figure 17�12 Tourkovouni (Athens). Reconstruction of the oval
cult building. (Drawing author after Lauter 1985a: 124, fig. 20).
advances in building materials, techniques, and
architectural forms, in other areas of Greece we observe
a conservatism which makes the early Archaic period not
much different from the preceding Geometric. Indeed,
temples of apsidal or even oval form were still being
constructed during the seventh century. Examples include
the horse-shoe temple of Athena at Gonnoi in northern
Thessaly (Mazarakis Ainian 1997: 86, with references),
and Building Γ at the sanctuary of Poseidi in Chalkidiki
(Moschonissioti 1998), both built during the second half
of the century. In numerous sanctuaries, temples built in
the Geometric period doubtless remained in use during
the following centuries and likely already appeared very
old fashioned by the end of the seventh century. Typical
examples include the apsidal temple at Ano Mazaraki
mentioned above, surrounded by its peristyle and
awkward front porch (Petropoulos 2002), the first temple
of Athena at Old Smyrna with its curved back corners
(Cook and Nicholls 1998), various curvilinear civic or
religious edifices on the island of Lesbos (Mytilene, Antissa,
Pyrra; see Mazarakis Ainian [1997, 84-5] with references),
the oval so-called ‘Sacred House’ at Tourkovouni (Figure
17.12) (Lauter 1985a) and the round cult building (or
Tholos) at Lathouriza in Attica (Lauter 1985b; Seiler 1986;
Mazarakis Ainian 1995).

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 17. Conservatism versus innovation: architectural forms in early Archaic Greece

Figure 17�13 Soros in

Magnesia (Thessaly).
The Archaic temple
of Apollo. View from
the west.
(© A. Mazarakis
Ainian [2008]).

Conservatism applies not only to the architectural form of seventh-century temples, but to their function as well.
Indeed, as already mentioned, temple-hestiatoria, which were the norm during the Early Iron Age, apparently
remained popular during the early Archaic period. A good demonstration of this are Cycladic temples during both
the Geometric and early Archaic periods. The impressive marble Archaic ‘Oikos of the Naxians’ on Delos and its
possible Early Iron Age predecessor (the so-called ‘Pre-Oikos’, the presence of which is much debated) most probably
served such a composite function (Courbin 1980; Mazarakis Ainian 1997: 180-1; Lambrinoudakis 2005). Similar in
type are the Late Geometric and early Archaic Naxian temples at Melanes (Lambrinoudakis 2005) and Hyria on Naxos
(phases II and III, respectively), which served also as hestiatoria to judge from the presence of spacious benches and
a large eschara within them. At Hyria, the dissociation between temple and hestiatorion was achieved in the later
Archaic period, c. 570 BC, when the marble Ionic Temple IV was constructed and separate structures were built
next to the propylon of the temenos (Lambrinoudakis 1991; 2001). Roughly during the same period, dining facilities
(Rooms A3-5) were erected next to the cult buildings (A1-2 and Δ) in the sanctuary of Apollo at Despotiko (Kourayos
2012). Interestingly, these functions were not everywhere dissociated during the sixth century. For example, the
Archaic temple of Demeter at Ypsili on Andros can be regarded as an unusual temple-hestiatorion. It is a rather small
anta temple, furnished inside with stone-built benches along the three sides, two built tables and a base presumably
for the cult statue set against the bench of the back wall (Televantou 1999; 2008). What is noteworthy in the case
of the Cyclades is that despite the fact that the function of temples such as those at Hyria or perhaps Delos (‘Oikos
of the Naxians’) was based on earlier practices no longer in fashion in various sanctuaries of the Greek world, their
architectural form, as well as the materials used in their construction, were highly innovative, and eventually led
to the birth of the Ionic Island order (see in this context also the temple at Gyroulas near Sangri on Naxos [Gruben
and Lambrinoudakis 2002]).

Likewise, the temple of Apollo at Soros in Magnesia (Thessaly) (Figure 17.13) is a further example that illustrates
not only the great variety in the architectural form of Greek temples during the Archaic period and their survival in
later periods, but also the diversity in the function of pre-Classical temples all over the Greek world (Milojčić 1974;
Mazarakis Ainian 2006; 2011b and 2012c). The plan and general characteristics of the temple at Soros are very close
to those observed in the late eighth–early seventh century, but the construction dates more than one century later.
Temples-hestiatoria are most characteristic of the Early Iron Age (Drerup 1969 considered early temples as halls
for gatherings around the hearth), but the evidence from Soros proves that in the late Archaic period, in Thessaly
at least, such hybrid temples could still be fashionable. Indeed, the sixth-century temple of Apollo at Mitropolis
near Karditsa, remarkable in several respects, though conservative on several others, further illustrates this point
(Intzesiloglou 2002; in general see also Morgan 2003: ch. 3).

The erection of public buildings and the shaping of public spaces

It is generally acknowledged that the formation of the polis was well on its way by the seventh century. Urbanization,
however, is the result of communal effort and requires the presence of civic institutions. The former doubtless

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Alexander Mazarakis Ainian

Figure 17�14 Oropos (Attica).

The monumental rectangular
peribolos of the seventh
century. View from the south.
(© A. Mazarakis Ainian [2002]).

underlies the major architectural projects undertaken

in sanctuaries, and also in the construction of massive
fortification walls (Frederiksen 2011 and in the volume).
Nevertheless, the physical architectural remains of the
civic institutions are generally difficult to discern.

At Emporio, a free open space between the Megaron

Figure 17�15 Oropos (Attica). The northern part of the
monumental rectangular peribolos of the seventh century.
(© A. Mazarakis Ainian; plan: A. Gounaris [2001]).
colonization of Thasos. Their descendants, however, continued to visit the sanctuaries next to these civic buildings,
which in turn may have been still standing.
Hall and the sanctuary of Athena may have served
as a gathering place, similar to that of the previous
century at Zagora (Boardman 1967). At Koukounaries
a rectangular building (with four rooms) which
yielded a series of clay seals may have functioned as a
gathering hall or Prytaneion. The open space between
this building and the temple of Athena may have served
as the agora of the small community (Schilardi 2002;
2016: 81-2). By the end of the century both settlements
had been peacefully abandoned and their inhabitants
settled elsewhere. In the case of Koukounaries, it is
tempting to imagine that part of the population moved
to Paroikia, while others may have participated in the

At Oropos, a monumental rectangular peribolos (57 x 16.70m), the initial construction of which dates in the first half
of the seventh century, was doubtless a ‘communal’ structure (Figures 17.14-15). Its exact function, however, remains
enigmatic. It was divided into two unequal parts, for the most part probably open to the sky. There were entrances at the
two ends: that at the north bordered by a paved rectangular room, and that at the south controlled by a kind of square
‘tower’. I have suggested that the complex may have served as an enclosure for animals, or, alternatively, as a military
camp, in which case one could link its presence with the Lelantine war (Mazarakis Ainian 2002a: 174-8; 2004a: 380-2;
2012b: 82). Alternatively, Emmanuele Greco (2006: 331-2) has suggested that the monumental enclosure may have been
an early agora similar to the agora of the Phaeacians described in the Odyssey (Od. 6.266-7; 8.5-23; 8.109-259). Greco
bases his opinion on the discovery of a bronze shield and a horse skull in the area, which could indicate athletic-military
games similar to those performed by the Phaeacians in the honour of Odysseus (Od. 8.109-259). The same data, however,
fit well the alternative interpretation (Longo 2009: 210-11). One objection against the view of Emmanuele Greco is that
if the area was indeed the Agora of pre-Classical Oropos one cannot easily understand why it was rather short lived and
not intensively used during the sixth century BC, as the pottery seems to attest (Charalambidou 2008: 179-92, 225-8). An
Archaic building constructed over the southeast corner of the peribolos consists of three adjacent rooms opening onto

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 17. Conservatism versus innovation: architectural forms in early Archaic Greece

Figure 17�16 Athenian Agora. Early Archaic habitation and

artisans’ complexes near the future Tholos. (© F. van den
Eijnde; plan: P. van den Eijnde).

a common courtyard. This arrangement suggests a pastas house, built probably in the first decades of the sixth century
(Charalambidou 2008), which may be compared with the earlier houses on the summit of the Velatouri hill at Thorikos
(Servais 1967; Mazarakis Ainian 1997: 254, with references) and at Eleusis (the so-called ‘Sacred House’: Mazarakis Ainian
1999b). The possibility remains, however, that this free-standing building, set next to a major street which presumably led
from the harbour to the centre of the settlement, was not a common house but a public building, perhaps a Prytaneion
(see also Charalambidou, this volume).

The material recognition of an agora or a building hosting civic functions is easier in Crete. The case of Prinias, with
the spacious open area in front of Building B and Temple A, appears to be one of the earlier examples, though there
are several uncertainties about the exact function of the two buildings (Mazarakis Ainian 1997: 224-6, with references).
The identification of an early ‘stepped’ agora of Dreros is now regarded as highly improbable (Gaignerot-Driessen 2013),
though the building behind the temple of Apollo Delphinos may have indeed been a Prytaneion. Azoria is of course the
best example of a Cretan polis of the seventh to early fifth century BC. Its impressive ‘Monumental Civic Complex’ (22.5
x 10m), with theatral stone seats along three sides, has been identified as a hall for communal gatherings, perhaps a kind
of Prytaneion or even a roofed agora (Haggis et al. 2007: esp. 295-301; 2011: esp. 16-26, 37-41; Haggis 2011) (Figure 17.7).

The appearance of the agora in the western colonies is a separate issue, since public spaces were presumably allotted
from the foundation of the settlements. For instance, at Megara Hyblaea the eighth-century colonists left a vast free
space which was to become the agora of the city a few generations later. Yet, at the same time, in Athens, habitation
and artisans’ complexes (as the one near the future Tholos) lay on the fringes of the future agora (Papadopoulos
2003; Sanidas 2013: 41-110), an area still very different in appearance from that achieved by the Athenians in the
sixth century (Eijnde 2010: fig. 109, fig. 26) (Figure 17.16).

Conclusions

Discussion in this chapter has revealed the mixed dynamics of the seventh century. The advent of the new century
brought great advances in architecture and established the foundations for later Greek achievement during the
‘mature’ Archaic and Classical periods. At the same time, as far as most aspects of everyday life were concerned, the
material world of the seventh century would not have differed greatly from the preceding centuries and certainly
not from the end of the Geometric period. Indeed, the first major advance after the end of the Late Bronze Age and
the ‘interlude’ of the Lefkandi ‘heroon’, was that in architectural methods and techniques achieved during the last
quarter of the eighth century. During this period, several monumental temples were constructed with communal
resources and effort. These still stood and were used, and doubtless occasionally admired, throughout the seventh
century (indeed often for much longer). Yet several of these earlier buildings would have already have appeared old
fashioned by the middle of the seventh century at the latest. The seventh century was thus an era of high contrasts,
where a humble oval hut with a mud brick superstructure and a straw roof could have stood next to a monumental
temple built with ashlar masonry, its walls decorated with frescoes, and covered with roof tiles.

185