Greeks/History

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Greece so far is the most significant ancient civilization in the West. Yet, at the beginning, from 3000 to 1000 BCE, Greece was not as successful or influential as other ancient cultures, and was vastly removed from the world of her Classical children. At the end of that period the Dorians, who were tribes speaking the Doric dialect of Greek, settled Greece between 1100 and 1000 BCE The period from 1100 to 800 B.C. was the "dark ages," during which there was little progress and from which little survived. Yet, if anything, the golden age of Greece that came centuries later may well owe more to this period than the casual mind could almost imagine. It is only through the memories (or possibly the literary inventions) of the authors of this later period, that this period would have been accessible to human consciousness until the emergence of modern archaeology, spurred on by the travails of the German Heinrich Schliemann in the 19th century.

It Came From The Sea: The Minoans of Crete[edit | edit source]

According to Greek myth, Zeus had His son Hephaestus create the first mortal woman, Pandora. Not only would she be given the infamous vessel or box which contained all ills that would plague mortal men, but she too would be the grandmother of Hellen, the progenitor of the Greek peoples. From his three sons Xuthus, Aeolus and Dorus, the ancient Greeks believed came all the tribes that would form their race or ethne, as they called it.

Modern archaeology has a more down-to-earth and far less fanciful view of the origins of the Greeks. Evidence obtained from excavation so far suggests that Greek-speaking peoples may have migrated to the Greek peninsula in the late 3rd century millennium CE, to mix with local pre-Hellenic populations - perhaps most likely the pioneers of the agricultural revolution of the late Mesolithic and Neolithic eras and then the Early Helladic, Cycladic cultures - and create what we know today as ancient Greek civilization.

Greece and the Islands around the Aegean Sea were first settled by a farm based culture as far back at the Neolithic era between 10000 B.C. and 3000 B.C. Human settlements on the island of Crete, which spawned what would become the Minoan civilization began around 6500 BCE, and may have been the very first civilised culture to flourish in modern day Greece (and some would say, Europe itself). From 3000 BCE, there was rapid population growth, eventually leading to the apogee of the Minoan civilization They reach their height between 2600 to 1450 BCE.

During this period, the Minoans enjoyed a very rich and vibrant level of cultural development. Their civilization was based primarily on maritime trade, and Minoan shipping most active in the Eastern Mediterranean. With their place in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, bordering Egypt to the south, Syria to the east and the Aegean to the north, the Minoans prospered as merchants of tin, which was needed to make bronze in the days before iron working, importing it from Spain and possibly even Britain. Their society was also ruled like a business, with the king acting almost like a CEO of a company. Wealth was more or less spread out throughout its society. Under the Minoans, Crete was dotted with magnificent palace complexes with art decorating them which showed the Minoans to be a culture that loved sporting events like boxing and bull jumping. As Arthur Evans' excavations revealed in the years after the First World War, the Minoans were skilled engineers for their time, and the Minoan palace at Knossos is known to have had a sewer system, a feature that was almost then unknown to European architecture (ruins excavated in Skara Brae in Scotland show however that its inhabitants, who were contemporaries of the Minoans were capable of building a sewerage system into their own settlement too).

The Minoan civilization suddenly disappeared after the catastrophic eruption of Mount Thera (dated between 1642–1540 BCE). What happened next is conjecture. Early on it was commonly believed that the Minoan civilisation fell foul to invaders from mainland Greece (the "Mycenaeans" as the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann called them), but of late this theory has started to weaken in its valency in academic cycles. Recent discoveries throughout Greece (most notably the Pavlopetri site in the southern Peloponnese) have revealed that the Minoans weren't alone in their time - there were several settlements with a fair deal of sophistication, thus implying that the material culture of the Minoan civilisation wasn't the only sophisticated society in the Greek world in its heyday. At Pavlopetri, the ruins of port facilities and workshops were found, implying that the site was an important seaport with industries in place. Nevertheless, all the archaeological evidence collected since Evans' forays in Crete (as well as Schliemann's in Argos) have since suggested that the culture of the Minoans was eventually transmitted northwards into mainland Greece and beyond, and eventually developed into the archetypical Mycenaean culture as we know it today.

The Chariot-Riding Lords[edit | edit source]

On the mainland of Greece, known as the Peloponnesus, the Myceneans would emerge around 2000 B.C. They were in fact the people who could be properly considered to be the Greeks we know today, as they were the people who actually use the Greek language. They invaded Greece and displaced the original inhabitants who were probably related to the Minoans, around 3000 BCE.

It is generally accepted that the "Mycenaean" period of Greek history lasted from 1600 to 1100 BCE. Myceanean society was more militaristic than that of the Minoans', and was dominated by powerful Kings ruling its subjects in hierarchical fashion.

"The Mycenaeans used a syllabic script that is the earliest form of Greek, attesting to the continuity of the Greek civilization from the early Bronze Age era. Many archaeological sites, cemeteries, and Tholos Tombs of the era have been unearthed throughout Greece, and the discovered artifacts speak of a people with strong cultural presence, a centralized political system with a King at the top, with strong commercial ties to the rest of the Bronze Age Mediterranean centers, and a militaristic attitude.

Their extensive contact with the mainland Helladic and Mediterranean cultures (Minoan, Cycladic, and Levantine) enriched their existence and allowed for the development of a unique cultural identity that's evident in their legends, art, and architecture. Archaeological and tablet evidence indicates that the Mycenaeans dominated the area around the Aegean sea and assimilated the diverse amalgam of local people into a homogeneous culture from the Levant to Sicily and northern Africa.

Their influence and power is most evident in the magestic citadels and palaces, in the grand royal burials, and in the extraordinary grave goods that included luxurious jewelry, weapons, and vessels of all kinds. The vast majority of the funerary artifacts unearthed (beginning with Heinrich Schliemann's excavations on the site) are made of precious metals, such as gold, silver, and bronze, as well as precious stones and crystals like lapis lazuli which originated in central Asia. They traded mainly oil and ceramic vessels and imported Anatolian or Caucasian tin and Syrian ivory.

They also manufactured and traded weapons and tools with the raw materials they imported, and there are indications that they were involved in mercenary wars and even piracy. In war, most Greek armies of the Mycenaean period appeared to have been rather similar to other nearby contemporary civilisations — they used light chariots, alongside with masses of lightly armoured infantry. Chariots could be used either as weapon platforms — with bows and javelins being the primary weapons of choice — but if the Iliad is to be believed, chariots were also used as a form of "mechanised infantry" where like in the Celtic tradition, a heavily armoured noble warrior could be brought to the front line by chariot and then dismount to fight, while the charioteer could then either hold back and await the return of his master, or otherwise join the fray with missile weapons.

Mycenaean artistic output is generally characterized by an austerity of decoration, symmetrical composition, repetition, and disciplined formal arrangement, with limited subject matter that depicts mostly nature, hunting, and war scenes. The sculpture can be safely considered "crude" in execution, consisting mostly of low relief stone carvings, but the craftsmanship of their decorative arts is exceptional. In terms of written records, Mycenaeans have left us with countless Linear B which almost exclusively contain catalogues and official records of a very stout bureaucracy which itself denotes a complex political and economic organization that was uniform throughout their area of influence.

The Myceneans at first traded with the Minoans and integrated a lot of its culture into that of Greece. However around 1200 B.C. the Myceneans invaded the Minoan empire, after it was devastated by a powerful earthquake putting an end to the Minoan civilization. The Myceneans civilization itself would also come to an end around 1150 B.C. Rebellions and internal wars would destroy all the Mycenean cities. The most famous war which the Myceneans would be known for was the Trojan Wars, which was immortalized by the Greek poet Homer in "The Illiad" and "The Odyssey", centuries later during the 7th century B.C. Some of these cities where reoccupied but on a much smaller scale, and in fact written language was lost during this period.

"The Sleep of Bronze"[edit | edit source]

The end of the Mycenaean civilization came in 1200 BCE and lingered until the middle of the 11th c. BCE. The causes of this end have been debated for the last two centuries, and while several theories have emerged as dominant, no definitive answer has emerged to date. Among the most credible theories is the emigration of Dorians and Heraclids (Tribes that lived hitherto in central Greece) which destroyed all the Mycenaean centers - except Athens -, and the hypothesis that social upheaval from within forced the civilization into decline. The Sea People that decimated the shores of the eastern Mediterranean at that time are also credited with direct or indirect involvement in the demise of Mycenaean civilization, with some scolars indicating that the Sea People might have been Mycenaeans forced to flee their invaded homeland.

Naturally, a combination of the above theories has also been suggested as the cause for the disappearance of the Mycenaeans. No matter what the cause, the effects of this rapid decline were devastating and resulted in what we consider to be the Greek Dark Ages when population declined dramatically, major cities ceased to exist, and literacy disappeared for the next three hundred years." They had a military ruling class that oppressed the local people, and they retained this rule by an aristocracy in many later polities such as Sparta and Crete even after democratic rule began to emerge in Athens and in other polities, both Greek and non-Greek alike.

The ancient Greek consciousness made a common reference to the Trojan War as the point of cultural origin, and self-awareness as a society in works such as the Iliad and the Odyssey.


"After the fall of the Mycenean Empire, it would usher in what is known as the "Dark Ages" of Greek civilization. The Myceneans would however form the cultural consciousness of the Greek civilization. During the "Greek Dark Age", the Dorians invaded from their homeland in Macedonia and moved south all the way into Crete and even Asian Minor or modern day Turkey. They would best be known for establishing the city-state of Sparta."

Once scholars linking the destruction of the end of the Mycenaean era with the return of the Heraclides and the Dorian invasion, which was passed in memory of the ancient heroic tradition. But today, few would accept the case of such invasion, such as accepted by the ancient Greeks. It is more acceptable theory of temporary disruption due to strikes and the invasion of young women moved to the events of the Early Iron Age (Dark Ages).

By the end of the Early Iron Age, the Greeks divided the tribes already known from the Classical era. The old theory according to which speakers of Achaean and Ionian dialects came in waves in the era of the Greek-speaking descent in Greece is no longer acceptable. Therefore, before the end of the Mycenaean period, we can not talk for a clear separation of the later Greek dialects, but for more than three language groups. The north-Greek and Mycenaean two players, the Arcadian (or Arcadocypriot) and Wind, which was connected to each other. [8]. In other scholars, the two most important dialects in Mycenaean site was Arcadocypriot and Ionic.

During the dark centuries that followed, took place last major upheaval in Greece, namely the Descent of the Dorians. Indeed, the ancient tradition of the arrival of the Dorians has preserved a historic core, as the approximate route from north to south. In this tradition, however, have infiltrated many great details and elements of the political propaganda of the later Greek city-states. Archaeological, possible evidence of the descent of the Dorians is very difficult to measure. Nor is it acceptable that the Dorians were they brought from the northern Balkan use of iron, and is imported from the East [10] It is, however attractive the hypothesis that the Dorians were culturally backward Pastoralists in the margins of the Mycenaean world, who eventually made a strong offensive activity, and they pushed from the north.

By the end of the Doric expansion of the non voreioellinikes dialects Peloponnese Arcadia left alone in the mountains of Arcadia. At that time he had already begun the first Aeolian colonization and colonized the islands of the North Aegean and Aeolia Asia Minor and the Ionian main part of the Aegean and Classical Ionia.

In the second colonization, colonized Halkidiki, Methoni and Pydna from Chalcis and Eretria and Miletus founded numerous colonies in Thrace, the Hellespont and Black Sea. Corinth has consolidated power in the Ionian founding colonies there (Corfu, Epidamnus, Apollonia, etc.). If these added colonization of Magna Graecia (Southern Italy) and Sicily, we can say that in 600 BC, the distribution of the Greeks in the Mediterranean has been completed.

The mercenaries appear in the 7th century Lyric Poetry, in the works of Alcaeus and Archilochus. At this period the phalanx tactics had matured in the Greek armies. The spearman was not a static unit simply enduring the enemy missiles just protecting his own missile-using colleagues but advanced vigorously in order to crash the enemy and was also brought o Asia by the Greek colonists. The fame of this peculiar for its time infantry reached as far as Babylon. The Babylonian kings used Greek mercenaries with deadly effectiveness against their hated enemy the Assyrians Perhaps king Nabopolassar put much of his hope on these men when he opposed the Assyrian might.

A New Era[edit | edit source]

The Assyrian army neutralized its opponent with a mighty chariot charge against enemies who had first been “softened up” by Assyrian missile troops. Assyrian swordsmen with large shields protect their missile troops from enemy attack and light cavalry threatened the enemy chariots. It seems that the Babylonians kept their chariots in reserve and used the Greek hoplites to drive Assyrian infantry from the field, as the Assyrian swordsmen would not be able to stop the solid pressure of the stampeding mass of Greek spearmen. This in its turn forced the Assyrian charioteers to charge in support of their infantry, but even they failed to break the phalanx and exposed themselves to the countercharges of their Babylonian charioteers. If we trust Alcaeus poems even Homeric style duels took place. The poet says that his brother Antimenidas bested an enemy champion and the mercenaries returned home full of glory and spoils of war.

Inimical Brothers: The Classical City States[edit | edit source]

Greece was responsible for much of modern democracy, philosophy, mathematics, and science, as well as a great deal of art and the introduction of the Olympic Games (See: Greek influence on Western Culture). Ancient Greek works had a great influence on the Romans. By the time of Christ, Greek was the dominant language and literary form of the day even though Greece itself had been conquered by Rome. Many of the early missionary journeys were into Greek areas and all of the epistles that Paul wrote were to churches set up in Greek lands. Paul's philosophical discussions in Athens and the belief of the people that he was Zeus, all tied into the Greek culture of the day as well as the New Testament books themselves being written in Greek and using a Greek translated Old Testament (Septuagint). Ancient Church Fathers were careful to draw a distinction between Greek culture and the unique message of Christianity that was meant for all.[1]

Oedipus and the Sphinx The ancient Greek consciousness made a common reference to the Trojan War as the point of cultural origin, and self-awareness as a society in works such as the Iliad and the Odyssey.

While it was independent, the ancient Greek world never unified into a central polity. Rather, individual city-states fought for dominion over many centuries, fighting with one another as to who would be prominent. This was especially true between Athens and Sparta. But while they fought amongst themselves, when a foreign entity sought to invade, such as the Persian Empire, the Greeks would come together in a unity seldom rivaled in history. Alexander the Great of Macedonia would eventually subdue Greece along with almost the entire known world at the time, but that would only lead to the spreading of Greek culture as Macedon was Hellenistic in nature and Greece was once again "free" after his death. Rome eventually put an end to ancient Greek independence, but not its influence.

Greek life was dominated by religion and so it is not surprising that the temples of ancient Greece were the biggest and most beautiful.They also had a political purpose as they were often built to celebrate civic power and pride, or offer thanksgiving to the patron deity of a city for success in war.[2]

Greek mythology is a collection of stories and narratives concerning their gods, heroes and mythological creatures. Hesiod's Theogony is an important source of myths as well as Homer's epic poems.

Some of the major Greek nations were:

  • Corinth

Corinth was a prominent Greek city state located on the Peloponnese peninsula, in southern Greece, but secondary in military party to city states like Sparta and Athens. The apostle Paul wrote two letters to the Corinthians which are in the Bible, Apollos preached there, and Priscilla and Aquilla lived there.

  • Sparta,

Sparta was a Greek city state known for its military strength.

An ancient city-state, its early history is clouded but it goes back to at least 1200 BC. Sparta was one of the two major regional powers through much of ancient Greek history, along with its chief rival Athens. Politically & culturally it was a military state in which its citizens enjoyed few amenities of life, hence the term spartan we use today denotes a lack of things, not poverty as such, simply a lack of things without a practical purpose. Although often in conflict or competition with Athens and some of the other city-states, their military strength was ultimately vital in protecting Greece from long term domination by outside threats and helping forge a single Greek nation. Even though Sparta itself had little use for art, music, philosophy and other non-military aspects of life, their strength helped preserve such things in Athens from destruction by outside powers (particularly the mighty Persian Empire).[1]

A famous battle was fought at Thermopylae where a small band of Spartans and other Greeks held off the Persian army led by Xerxes.[2]


Role of the Spartan Army Spartan society was one that was almost entirely geared towards warfare. Sparta’s infatuation with war set it apart from other Greek city-state, and indeed any other nation in the ancient world. The military was of utmost importance, and as such, it was inevitable that it would become compulsory to serve in the army, which was no mean feat by any standards. The role of the Spartan army, first and foremost, was to serve the state of Sparta, a role which was not taken lightly by the Spartan soldier elite, this role extended from protecting its borders from neighboring states and countries, to protecting itself from the massive slave population within Sparta. Although the roles of the Spartan military forces may not be any cause for fame, Sparta’s obsession with war, made it one of the most influential and feared military forces in the ancient world.

The Spartan army consisted of units of heavily armed infantrymen known as hoplites. Each hoplite carried a long spear around 2.5 metres in length, a sword, a round shield around one metre in diameter, a bronze helmet, breastplate and greaves, Also “Lycurgus devised that they should have a crimson cloak ”, which has since become a famous symbol of the Spartan army. As a unit, the hoplites formed a phalanx, a near impenetrable formation as long as cohesion was maintained. Hoplite warfare was favoured throughout Greece as a means of war; however it was Sparta who perfected its art. The effectiveness of the line of hoplites depended solely on each soldier holding his ground and the rear lines moving forward to fill the gaps left by fallen comrades. This type of warfare did not produce individual heroes, but relied on the whole. This was recognized by the Spartan army, each soldier fought, not for himself, but for the welfare of Sparta, as well as his comrades, in fact, his shield was not only meant for him, but to protect the soldier directly on his left.

Sparta’s fixation with warfare meant that the protection of the state was not a role to be taken lightly. As such, Spartans were brought up, virtually from birth, to become ideal soldiers. At birth, male children were inspected by the cities elders, any unhealthy children were thrown off the cliffs of Mt Taygetus. The mothers of the males deemed healthy raised the children until the age of seven, teaching them not to cry or to be afraid. At the age of seven the boys were thrust into the care of the state. “As the boys reached the age of seven, Lycurgus took charge of them all himself and distributed them into troops”, whilst in the military barracks of the agoge, the young boys were taught military skills, hunting, dancing, to obey orders, as well as a sparse amount of reading and writing. This training continued until the Spartans reached the age of eighteen, however at the age of twelve the intensity of the training increased. The boys were given little rations and were encouraged to steal, Plutarch states that “If they were caught thieving, they are whipped severely, for stealing carelessly and unskillfully”. At this age they were also allowed to participate at the festival of Artemis Ortheia, were they run through a gauntlet of guards with whips up to an alter to steal cheeses, “he (Lycurgus) made it honorable to steal as many cheeses as possible. These skills of endurance were believed to shape stronger minded soldiers.

From the age of eighteen, the Spartans were allowed to serve on the army, but not in the frontline. At this age, they would apply for membership into a Syssition where they would learn regularly from older soldiers, they would also be appointed as leaders for younger boys, they would act as role models as well as punish those under their control. At the age of twenty three, the Spartiate became a full time soldier, and at the age of thirty completed his time in the agoge, however continued eating meals in the Syssition. The Spartan didn’t finish an active role in the army until the age of sixty.

As the Spartan soldiers endured such rigorous training, and lived as full time soldiers, the Spartan army was looked up to by the neighboring city states as a military force. The will of the Spartans was to protect Sparta at any cost, including death, as “An honorable death is preferable to a dishonorable life”. This belief was held up in all levels of society as a famous saying of the mothers to their sons when they went to war was to return ‘with your shield, or on it’. It was impossible to flee from battle with a carrying a shield. It meant die in battle (on it) before retreat. It was for this tenacity that the Spartans were both feared and respected. In the Battle of Thermopylae, The Spartan king Leonidas, led a 300 strong advance force to meet a much larger Persian force, “in order that the sight of them might encourage the other confederates to fight and prevent them from going over (to) the enemy, as they were quite capable of doing if they knew that Sparta was hanging back”. Often the sight of a Spartan wearing his crimson cloak was enough to inspire an ally to take up arms. The influence of the Spartan army also led to their allies serving under the Spartan commander. During the battle of Thermopylae, although each of the Greek forces had their own commander, but “Leonidas the Spartan, was in command of the whole army”.

The army’s role to protect the state of Sparta was not constricted to fighting external threats. Sparta held control over the whole of the Eurotas valley, and enslaved the people they conquered during the Messenian wars around 713BC. The Slaves, or helots, were significantly outnumbered the Spartans and as such there was a great sense of paranoia amongst the Spartans. Many Historians have speculated whether the helots were the reason for the agoge system and the need for such a well trained army. Each year “immediately after taking up office the ephors would declare war on the helots, so that they would be killed without pollution”. The control of the helots was also carried out by the Krypteia, a secret police that was made up of promising young soldiers, “by day they would disperse to obscure spots in order to hide and rest. At night they made their way to roads and murdered any helot whom they aught. Frequently, too, they made their way through fields, killing the helots who stood out for their physique and strength”. The Spartans genuinely feared helot revolt, and their strict control over the slave population ensured that no revolt was successful until after the Battle of Leuctra. The Spartan military system woven into society was set up on such a fine balance that losing a single battle would crush it. The Spartans never fully recovered.

The roles of the Spartan army, were to put it simply, to protect the state of Sparta, both from external threats as well as internal threats. The influence of the army was gained through a rigorous education system that raised the Spartans into full-time warriors. Their attitude towards war ensured that the army would remain a force throughout Greece as well as feared within their own backyard through the terrorization of helots.

  • Athens,

Athens is the capital of modern Greece; it was a famous city state in its early history.

Historians have not yet established the date Athens was founded but physical evidence documents a continuous human presence since at least 1,000 B.C. It was named after the Ancient Greek goddess Athena and was one of leading city-states of Ancient Greece, having a long running rivalry with Sparta. The city of Athens was taken by the Persians in 480 B.C. during their war with Greece but was reclaimed near the end of the war.

The Western notion of democracy first developed in Athens in the 6th century BC. Since that time, until the end of Antiquity in 5th century A.D., it was a major center of Philosophy, Sciences, and the Arts. Later becoming Christian under Roman rule, the closure of the Plato's Academy by Justinian (because of its association with paganism) marked the final turning from the ancient ways. Intellectual and artistic activity continued during the Byzantine period, and masterpieces of Byzantine architecture are still to be seen in Athens.

  • Larissa,

Thessaly is a region in central to northern Greece. In the story by Homer, The Odyssey, Thessaly was known as Aeolus.

  • Macedon,
  • Epeiros
  • Thebes

"Thebes was an ancient Greek city state in Boeotia. Under Spartan control for most of its ancient history, Thebes broke away during a revolt from 379 to 371 B.C. and their surprising victory over Sparta in the Battle of Leuctra under their great military general Epaminondas in 371 B.C. not only solidified their independence, but temporarily made them the most powerful city state in Greece. They were so feared that even traditional rivals Athens and Sparta formed an alliance against them. Theban supremacy ended soon however with the rise of Philip of Macedon who took prominence and of course under his son Alexander the Great."

  • Other city states

Alexander the Great[edit | edit source]

"Alexander the Great was on his way from Iran to Babylon. It was 324 BC. As he passed through southern Iraq he founded his very last city, just above the confluence of the Karun River with the Tigris. This was a strategic location, sited on commercial routes connecting India, central Iraq, and Syria. Its name was Alexandria-on-the-Tigris.

The last Greek kingdom[edit | edit source]

(http://www.charaxspasinou.org/?page_id=37)


Alexander died a year later, and his city did not prosper to start with. In the mid-second century BC it had to be rebuilt after a particularly severe flood, and was renamed Antiochia, but it was only after a repeat of these events that it started to thrive. A local potentate, Hyspaosines, carved out independence from a weakened Seleucid empire and rebuilt the city, which then became known as Charax Spasinou after its founder. Hyspaosines and his queen, Thalassia, were the first rulers of the kingdom of Characene (Mesene). Their wealth was built on maritime power and trade, with a fleet controlling the waters of the Gulf.

A few years later the Arsacid Rulers of Parthia took control of Charax Spasinou. The city then became the main entrepôt for the flourishing trade between the large cities of the Arsacid realm and India.

It was not the end of the Parthian Empire in AD 224 that eventually sent Charax Spasinou into decline, but the silting up of the river channel and the loss of navigable access to the Gulf. The city lost its raison d’être, so the population declined and eventually left altogether. The floodwaters returned, and the city disappeared under silt and sand."

References[edit | edit source]