The reappearance of writing in a new and very handy form was decisive in consolidating old values in Archaic society and in shaping new ones. The awareness of a common language and descent was strengthened; the transmission of the Homeric epics was finalized; and the preconditions for the development of individuality were generated. But traditions that we shall call, if the anachronism be permitted, 'metaphysical' did not vanish. Out of belief in prophecy and magic, the influence of the Oriental world being strong, there gradually emerged the first sciences, such as medicine. As a Panhellenic shrine, the Delphic Oracle contributed to the formation of the social values and the political institutions of the Archaic period.



| introduction | structures | law | values | Archaic Period

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