The term "Transitional period" is rather meaningless in
itself, but has acquired considerable currency as
denoting that stage in the history of Greek art in which
the last steps were taken toward perfect freedom of
style. It is convenient to reckon this period as
extending from the year of the Persian invasion of
Greece under Xerxes to the middle of the century. In the
artistic as in the political history of this generation
Athens held a position of commanding importance, while
Sparta, the political rival of Athens, was as barren of
art as of literature. The other principal artistic
center was Argos, whose school of sculpture had been and
was destined long to be widely influential. As for other
local schools, the question of their centers and mutual
relations is too perplexing and uncertain to be here
discussed.
F. B. Tarbell, A History of Ancient Greek Art
