A special style of sculpture owing quite a lot of its elements to oriental influences, had already been developed in Crete at the end of the 8th century B.C. At the same time the structuring of the volumes of the human body was gradually released from the formation and approached a more physiocratic conception. This tendency was expressed through a new technique, hammering. Characteristic examples from the end of this period are the three statues from Dreros, one male and two female, which are usually identified as the Apollonian trinity. They were made of hammered sheets of bronze, which were fixed with nails onto a wooden frame, and apparently constituted the cult statues of the temple of Dreros. During the same period, a similar technique can be found in human-head vases from Idaon cave and in cast statuettes from Cnossus, which verifies that this development was indigenous. With a combined technique (casting and hammering) another cult statue of Apollo Hoplites was apparently made; this was recently found in a temple of the ancient Metropolis, in west Thessaly. Although it is more recent - dated around the middle of the 6th century B.C.- it seems to be related to the same tradition, of that of the bust of Nike from Olympia. Some heads of griffins and lions, also from Olympia, have stronger Ionic influences.

The bronze sculpture of great statues created some excellent works, mostly in the late Archaic period. Works that are notable among them are the Apollo of Piraeus (530-520 B.C.), which was occasionally wrongly considered a Roman copy, and Poseidon from Kreusi in Boeotia.

Another type of statue, quite common during the Archaic period, was the form of an equestrian. The best examples come from the Acropolis in Athens. The known "equestrian Rampin" is dated in the middle of the 6th century B.C. and its sculptor had created other votive statues on the Athenian sanctuary. The front part of a horse with its rider reveal to us the progress made in the study of animal anatomy. However, the sculptors of the Archaic period showed a special preference in depicting the lion. One of the earliest examples comes from Olympia, whereas some others of Corinthianizing style have their origins in Corcyra, Perachora and Loutraki. A row of lions aligned according to the Egyptian style was dedicated by the Naxians in Delos. Nowadays all of them are too damaged for their style to be discerned. In fact, one of them, having decorated the port of Piraeus for many years -where the name Porto Leone came from,- was transferred to Arseneio in Venice.

Finally, the sphinxes were the favourite theme of the sculptors at grave monuments, from the second quarter of the 6th century B.C. and onwards. They are mostly met in Attica, but also in Corinth and in other areas of the Greek world and are placed as a rule on the top of grave steles with a floral crown. The votive reliefs of the 6th century B.C. depict more often heroes and cult heroes, than gods. In these reliefs the effigy of the dedicator whose figure is usually smaller than those of the heroes is also quite common.