Ancient Greek civilization in the usual sense, mainly divided into the era of Aegean civilization, Homer's era, the ancient era, the classical era, the Hellenistic era and other 5 eras, this article introduces the first three eras, it can be said that through these three eras, the city-state civilization of ancient Greece developed to its peak.
Aegean civilization – from the dawn to the dark ages
Late Bronze Age – the glorious Mycenaean civilization
Immediately following the previous article, the beginning of Western civilization, the ancient Greek civilization (prehistoric to Cretan civilization), the Cretan civilization of the Aegean civilization gradually declined, but another branch civilization, the Mycenaean civilization, continued to prosper.
The inhabitants of mainland Greece here we refer to them collectively as the Achaeans, and of course they can be called Mycenaeans, just as the Cretans can be called Minosans. These Achaeans came to mainland Greece around 2000 BC during the Great Migration of Eurasian peoples, and they gradually integrated with the original indigenous people after hundreds of years of struggle and interaction.
According to Neolithic site finds, these indigenous people migrated from Asia Minor to the Greek mainland around 4000 BC, and one of the most important features of their culture is the worship of women, they can make pottery, they can also use obsidian to make various tools, usually mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. The Achaeans, who later entered mainland Greece, were more male worship and better at making weapons.
Around 2500 BC, the Achaeans lived mainly in Macedonia, and around 2000 BC, a Minian of the Achaeans invaded the Peloponnese for the first time and destroyed many walls and palaces, which led to more Achaeans migrating south from Macedonia. The period from 1900 BC to 1600 BC was a period of convergence between the Achaeans and the indigenous people, who gradually learned more elaborate craftsmanship and navigational techniques, and also built larger walls, towers, castles and houses, and after settling the Achaeans began to engage in agriculture and animal husbandry.
Perhaps influenced by the civilizations of Asia Minor and the Two River Valley, the many states founded by the Achaeans were a bit like small centralized kingdoms, very similar to the Hittites, Assyria, and Babylon. The king lived in a defensive castle-like palace and had to deal with trade with the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean, in addition to administrative affairs with civil servants. In everyday life and in the conduct of government affairs, the script used by the Achaeans is called Linear Script B, which is the result of the fusion of the Achaeans with the indigenous language, very similar to the ancient Greek.
If the Cretan civilization was characterized by meticulous beauty, the Mycenaean civilization was characterized by great roughness. The excavated palace buildings, tombs, city walls, etc. all reflect the characteristics of luxury, and also have a lot of metal utensils, exquisite handicrafts and luxury goods, which are somewhat similar to the Cretan civilization. In addition to close contact with Crete, from the unearthed shipwreck remains, many treasures from Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria, Canaan and other regions controlled by Hittites and Egypt were found, such as gold, ivory, hippopotamus teeth, fishing equipment, musical instruments, scarab jewelry and other precious raw materials and processed goods, which shows that the Mycenaean civilization was a very commercial civilization.
The Mycenaean civilization entered a period of prosperity around 1600 BC, and due to special geographical factors, the Cretans did not need to build defensive fortresses, while the Achaeans, who were in a more open area, needed to build military fortresses and fortresses to prevent enemy attacks. The most famous palace built by the Achaeans was the Palace of Cuquelopez, and the most famous city was Mycenae. At the peak of the development of Mycenaean civilization, the burial form gradually changed from shaft tombs to domed tombs, and the scale gradually increased, in addition to the king's own burial chamber, there were also funerary tombs, mainly gold, silver, bronze, and pottery. These are very effective testimony to the strength of the Mycenaean civilization at that time.
From the 15th century BC to the 14th century BC, is the golden period of foreign exchanges between the Mycenaean civilization countries, from Thebes in the north to the entire Peloponnese, are in the influence of the Mycenaean civilization, the influence of the Cretan civilization has gradually been replaced, basically by about 1450 BC, Crete has been occupied by the Achaeans, the Mycenaean civilization has become the main civilization, in addition, the Cyclades and Arzava in western Asia Minor, have also been influenced by the Mycenaean civilization. At this time, many Greek colonies were also established in the southern part of the Apennine Peninsula.
By this time, the mighty Egypt had reached its peak of the Eighteenth Dynasty, the Hittites had risen, and both kingdoms had entered the Age of Empire. The powerful Mycenaean states also had a lot of contact with these two empires, and at this time the entire Eastern Mediterranean region was their range of activities. The most famous event during this period was the Trojan War. Did the Trojan War take place? Was the cause of the war really because of the beautiful Helen?
From around 1250 BC, the Mycenaean kingdoms suffered invasions from the north, huge defensive walls resisted many invasions, and by about 1200 BC, affected by the Great Collapse of the Late Bronze Period, the cities had begun to be destroyed one after another, and by about 1100 BC, the once glorious Mycenaean civilization had completely declined. For almost 400 years, the entire Greek region entered the Dark Ages.
Early Iron Age – Dark Ages
Dark Age civilization completely regressed, writing gradually degraded, there were no more special scribes to record history, no longer invented innovations, culture and ideas no longer progressed and developed, people only recorded historical stories through oral narration, Homer lived in such an era, when bards were particularly popular, so this era is also called "dark ages". Fortunately, in the Ionian region, the flame of civilization was preserved, of which Mily was the most developed city-state, while countries such as Lydia in Asia Minor also inherited some of the achievements of civilization.
Between 1200 BC and 800 BC, not only the entire Mycenaean civilization influence area, but also the entire Eastern Mediterranean region was seriously affected, began a large-scale decline, Egypt withdrew from the Middle East, the powerful Hittite Empire was disintegrated, which made the monopoly of iron smelting technology broke, the Assyrian Empire began to rise, and during these 400 years, the Hittite tribes were gradually conquered by the newly rising Assyrian Empire. Without the oppression of the Hittites and Egypt, the Phoenicians and Jews rose to prominence during this time, re-establishing new cities and new trading systems.
The Mycenaean civilization suffered irreparable damage under the influence of climate change, famine, displacement, piracy, and basically stagnated political and economic activities between 1130 and 1125 BC, coupled with the collapse of the two great empires of the Hittites and Egypt, making it difficult for Greece, a barren region, to obtain trade support from other countries, and in addition to economic exchanges, political and cultural exchanges were also severed, which had an immeasurable impact on slave countries. After the destruction of the Eastern Mediterranean communication network, the royal nobles lost their sources of wealth, could no longer support those professions that were out of production, such as bureaucracy and various craftsmen, and the palace personnel of course had no financial resources, so the culture naturally declined. Coupled with the invasion of the barbaric Dorians, the development of civilization was simply worse.
In addition, during the Dark Ages, the entire Greek world was greatly depopulated, living spaces were reduced, no new palaces, castles and tombs were built, and people began to live the social life of the early Bronze Age again, returning to simple social structures. However, although mainland Greece declined during this period, the inhabitants of some islands in the Aegean Sea continued to develop through trade.
For example, the island of Evia, that is, the island of Eubea, which is relatively close to the center of Near Eastern civilization, still retains a complex social structure, the scale of buildings found in the site is still relatively large, and there are typical Greek colonnades, so there are still highly skilled craftsmen; On the island of Cyprus, because they had been a client state of the Hittites, they were able to learn iron smelting techniques, and they spread iron tools and techniques throughout the Aegean Sea.
The Dark Age was actually a transitional period in the development of Greek civilization, and the original Cretan civilization and Mycenaean civilization had a political rule form very similar to the Hittittes, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt and other countries, and was a typical Near Eastern model of social structure. After the complete destruction of civilization, the original ruling class ceased to exist, or it was difficult to play a ruling role, which allowed the rise of powerful heroic leaders and local tycoons. They were more keen to buy their own weapons and armor, and to build their own tombs and houses, so no one built public buildings, and their tombs and houses were more modest than in Mycenaean times, and did not occupy too much wealth.
During this period, society began to enter the stage of the initial grading of primitive society, but at this time, people's ideas had already progressed and developed, so it was easier to develop a democracy different from primitive social democracy, that is, the city-state democracy that appeared later was germinating at this time. Greek society at this time was different from Mycenaean and Cretan societies, and they had begun to develop in a completely different direction from those of the Near East. However, it is important to note that some cultural achievements, such as gods, languages and some technologies, have survived.