EARLY CIVILIZATION IN GREECE

EARLY CIVILIZATION IN GREECE

During the third millennium B.C., the island of Crete was home to the most

advanced civilization in Europe. Although Minoan Crete was not Greek; it did have

some influence on the first Greek state. The story of ancient Greek civilization begins

when a group of Greek-speaking Indo-European people moved into Greece around

1900 B.C. The Mycenaens provided the inspiration for Homer’s epics and paved the

way for the political and cultural developments of Greece in the first millennium B.C.

Mountains

Two peninsulas make up much of the Greek landmass. The Isthmus of Corinth

fiercely independent. It is probable that the small size of these independent

communities encouraged people to participate in political affairs. On the other hand,

the rivalry between the communities led to warfare that devastated Greek society.

The sea also influenced the evolution of Greek society. The Aegean,

Mediterranean, and Ionian Seas make up the eastern, southern, and western borders

of Greece. Its location on a peninsula gives Greece a long seacoast dotted by bays

and inlets that provided many harbors. Although Greece is small, it has an 8,500 mile

(13,700 km) coastline. In fact, no part of the Greek mainland is more than 60 miles

(100 km) from a body of water. The ancient Greeks also lived on a number of islands

Arthur Evans, the English archaeologist who first discovered the civilization,

named it after Minos, the legendary king of Crete, because some of its structures were

similar to the labyrinth that King Minos was said to have built. At the beginning of the

twentieth century, Evans discovered an enormous palace complex on Crete at

Knossos (NAH•suhs). The remains of this complex revealed a rich culture, with

Knossos as the center of a far-ranging sea empire based on trade. The ships of the

Minoans took them to Egypt as well as southern Greece.

There, they traded finely crafted pottery and gold and silver jewelry from Crete

for other goods. Trade also helped the Minoans improve the goods they produced:

they drew inspiration from techniques and designs from objects from other lands.

were paid as taxes to the king. The centers of Minoan civilization on Crete suffered a

sudden and catastrophic collapse around 1450 b.c. Some historians believe that a

tidal wave triggered by a powerful volcanic eruption on the island of Thera (THIHR•uh)

was responsible for the devastation. Most historians, however, believe that the

destruction was the result of invasion by mainland Greeks known as the Mycenaeans

(my•suh•NEE•uhnz).

Mycenae: The First Green State

The term Mycenaean comes from Mycenae (my•SEE•nee), a fortified site on the

Greek mainland that was first discovered by the German archaeologist Heinrich

Schliemann. Mycenae was one center in a Mycenaean Greek civilization that

stone walls. The monarchies in these various centers of power probably formed a

loose alliance of independent states. While the royal families lived within the walls of

these complexes, the civilian populations lived scattered outside the walls. Among the

noticeable features of these Mycenaean centers were the tombs where members of

the royal families were buried. Known as tholos tombs, they were built into hillsides.

An entryway led into a circular tomb chamber constructed of cut stone blocks in a

domed shape that resembled a beehive. The Mycenaeans were, above all, a warrior

people who prided themselves on their heroic deeds in battle. Mycenaean wall murals

often show war and hunting scenes, the natural occupations of a warrior aristocracy.

Archaeological evidence also indicates that the Mycenaean monarchies

poetry of Homer. According to Homer, Mycenaean Greeks, led by Agamemnon, king

of Mycenae, sacked (plundered) the city of Troy on the northwestern coast of Asia

Minor around 1250 b.c. Did this event really occur? Ever since the excavations of

Schliemann, begun in 1870, scholars have debated this question. Many believe that

Homer’s account of the attack on Troy does have a basis in fact. By the late thirteenth

century b.c., Mycenaean Greece was showing signs of serious trouble. Mycenaean

states fought one another, and major earthquakes caused widespread damage. In the

twelfth century b.c., new waves of Greek-speaking invaders moved into Greece from

the north. By 1100 b.c., Mycenaean civilization had collapsed.

Greeks in the Dark Age

Changes of the Dark Age

During the Dark Age, many Greeks left the mainland and sailed across the

Aegean Sea to various islands. Many went to the western shores of Asia Minor, a strip

of territory that came to be called Ionia (or Ionian Greece), in modern-day Turkey. Two

other major groups of Greeks settled in established parts of Greece. The Aeolian

Greeks of northern and central Greece colonized the large island of Lesbos and the

territory near the mainland. The Dorians established themselves in southwestern

Greece, especially in the Peloponnese, as well as on some of the southern Aegean

islands, including Crete. In addition to agriculture, there was a revival of some trade

and economic activity during the Dark Age. Iron replaced bronze in weaponry, making

weapons affordable for more people. Iron farming tools helped reverse the decline in

food production.

Homer: Poet of the Dark Age

stories of the Trojan War to compose the Iliad and the Odyssey. The war is caused by

Paris, a prince of Troy. By kidnapping Helen, the wife of the king of the Greek state of

Sparta, Paris outrages all the Greeks. Under the leadership of the Spartan king’s

Iliad is not so much the story of the war itself, however, as it is the tale of the Greek

hero Achilles (uh•KIH•leez) and how the anger of Achilles led to disaster. The Odyssey

recounts the journeys of one of the Greek heroes, Odysseus, after the fall of Troy, and

his ultimate return to his wife. It has long been considered Homer’s other masterpiece.

Some scholars believe that it was composed later than the Iliad.

Homer proved to be of great value to later Greeks. He did not so much record

history; he created it. The Greeks looked on the Iliad and the Odyssey as true history

and as the works of one poet, Homer. These masterpieces gave the Greeks an ideal

past with a cast of heroes. The epics came to be used as basic texts for the education

of generations of Greek males. As one ancient Athenian stated, “My father was

honor. For example, in an exciting description of men marching to war, the Iliad taught

students to be proud of their Greek heritage and the actions of their heroic ancestors.