Orientalizing Period 700-600 B.C.

The Orientalizing period was one of expansion and prosperity.  The concept of the polis, or city-state, became well developed although tyrannical political figures took control of many of these city-states in the 7th and 6th centuries.

Existing Greek colonies abroad flourished and new settlements were established, particularly in the region of the Black Sea as well as the Mediterranean with the founding of Cyrene on the North African coast and Massilia (Marseilles) in southern France

Commercial contacts with Egypt, Anatolia and the Levant continued, which stimulated an influx of eastern imports and the subsequent manufacturing of Greek objects with an "oriental" appearance or featuring "oriental" motifs. Coinage was invented by the East Greeks or by the Lydians, the neighbors of the Greeks on the coast of Asia Minor, and was soon adopted by the Greek city-states.

Key Developments in Art

• The first Greek monumental stone sculptures appeared.
• The development of Doric and Ionic architectural orders
• The Greek temple reached its developed form.
• Corinth was the innovator in pottery decoration and dominated pottery exportation in the 7th and early 6th centuries B.C.
• The decorative motifs include exotic animals, and "oriental" creatures such as the sphinx, as well as filler ornaments such as rosettes.