BASICS OF GREEK HISTORY

PRE-1600 BCE or Middle Helladic Period Sometime around 2000 bce people entered“Greece” who would develope into the historical Greeks. Mainland Greece was widely populated and a distinctive pottery style was used. These early Greeks eventually were influenced by Crete’s Minoans and developed into the Mycenaeans. the Mycenaeans.

Late Helladic or Mycenaean Greece bce The Mycenaeans were organized in communities led by warrior-kings in palace complexes. They engaged in warfare, colonization and trade throughout the Mediterranean. Their leaders were buried in tholos tombs and their records, in Linear B script, show evidence of their law and religion. The period ended abruptly, perhaps due to natural disaster and invasion by Dorian Greeks bce 1250 bce

DARK AGES (Geometric Period) bce Following the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization Greece reverted to village organization, presumably ruled by the better-off agrarian families in villages, with chief magistrates known as basileis.Writing, trade, large scale organization disappear for centuries.The beginning and end of this period are marked by colonization of Ionia and Magna Grecia (Italy).Geometric pottery dominates bce 850 bce 800 bce

ARCHAIC AGE bce The period begins with colonization, expanded trade and Homeric poetry. The period witnesses the development of hoplite warfare, use of the alphabet, coinage, lyric poets, the rise of tyrants and the formation of the POLIS or city-state. Panhellenic institutions like the Olympic Games and the Delphic oracle coexist with endless inter-city warfare. The Olympian gods form the basis of state religion. Corinth, Sparta and above all Athens develop distinctive pottery. Corinth 600 bce Laconia 550 bce Athens 550 bce

CLASSICAL AGE (350) bce The GOLDEN AGE of Greece when Athens and Sparta reach their heights. Also the century plus of internicean warfare among the Greek city-states and with Persia. Architecture, sculpture and painting as well as tragic and comic theatre flourish. Philosophy, mathematics and medicine see their beginnings and practiced by Plato and Aristotle, Hippocrates and Pythagoras. Rhetoric emerges from the law courts and democracy is expanded in range and meaning.

HELLENISTIC GREECE bce The Greek city states lost their independency to kingdoms established by Alexander’s political descendants. This loss of freedom was matched by an increase of peace and prosperity and a broader definition of Greece. The period witnessed increased urbanization of the culture and interchange among its members. Philosophy and architecture, the arts and the sciences all prospered under the kings. The middle class became more active in political matters but Its tastes and concerns were also expressed in more baroque art and more personal religion.

AND THEN CAME THE ROMANS!