The culture of the Geometric period shares the same general features with other manifestations of that period, such as society and economy, with which it is inter-related. At its outset it bore the signs of the Mycenaean tradition, whilst the subsequent period of the Dark Age left few visible remains to be able to discuss it with any certainty. In the Geometric period, the arts experienced a relative flowering, pottery in particular, in which innovations were numerous and conspicuous. The literature of the period was mainly oral, but the epic poetry crystallized towards the end of the period thanks to the re-introduction of literacy. As far as the cult is concerned, the Mycenaean legacy was injected with new elements, owing both to the arrival of new tribes and the contacts with the East.