The dawn of the 7th century ushered in a new era in Greek history, which would last until the end of the 6th and be known as the Archaic period. Greek colonial expansion along the eastern seaboard and in the Western Mediterranean reached its height in the 6th century when the Hellenic world extended from the Black Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, bringing about a radical restructuring of economic, political and cultural life. The rapid growth of trade, shipping and manufacturing further intensified thanks to the invention of coinage, which was adopted in the Greek world from the late 7th century BC, a world whose ever-increasing economic prosperity is reflected in the gold votive offerings in the major sanctuaries of the period. The emergence of a powerful middle class and its struggles for a new active participation in public affairs would lead to conflict -often violent- with the class of the noble aristocrats. Timocratic regimes in which certain amount of property underpinned the rise to power were established after 594 BC, however, once the Athenian lawmaker, Solon, instituted the written recording of legislation. In the - so called Orientalizing art of the 7th century BC the geometric pictorial vocabulary was enriched with griffins, sphinxes, sirens and other demonic forms from the world of the East. The black - figure style, characterized by incision, black silhouettes and an initially orientalizing thematic repertoire, was created in Corinth. Circa 630 BC the Attic workshops adopted the style, which permitted the narration of myths, so that the Attic black-figure versus which conquered the markets at the time today offer the most comprehensive presentation of mythology in the art of the 6th century BC. The spirit of mobility which characterized the Greek world reached its peak in the 6th century BC. In the thriving Ionian cities of Asia Minor philosophers laid the foundations of critical thought, while from "a gift of the Muses" poetry transformed into a sharp-edged medium of political expression. In sculptor, the same vigor released the human figure from immobility in Greece's first monumental statues, carved from island or Attic marble and often painted. The hesitant movements of their members reflect the now imperative Greek need to discover the world. The art of the sixth century BC was dominated by the types of the kouros, the statue of a naked youth and the kore, its draped female counterpart, both intended for funerary as well as votive use. These were youths and maidens of aristocratic descent, portrayed in their prime in a way that highlights male virtue and bravery, and female modesty and grace. In the archaic period of the geometric city was transformed into a city-state with a consolidated consciousness of common origin, language and customs. Confidence in man and the rational approach to the world are perhaps the most significant achievements of Archaic civilization, since this outlook did not change until the domination of Christianity.