An Introduction to Ancient Greece
The history of Greece is a long and varied one which goes right back to the Stone Age. It was one of the earliest civilisations and most of our knowledge of ancient Greece comes from three historians, Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon, and from research conducted on temples, pottery, sculptures and various other archaeological finds.
The Neolithic period in Greece was between around 6000 - 3000 BCE with the more domesticated area being in the East. People migrated via the Black Sea and from one island to another and introduced pottery and animal husbandry. With the coming of the Bronze Age, bronze weapons replacing the less efficient stone, bone or wooden ones previously used and also saw the introduction of other metals such as gold, silver and lead.
The Minoans established an early form of civilisation between c 2000 - 1400 BCE centring on the island of Crete; they built grand structures, established a strong administration and introduced royal political control. After their defeat at the hands of the Mycenaeans, power shifted to Southern Greece in Mycenae, which is now an important archaeological site. According to Homer, The Mycenaean culture had powerbases in Athens, Tiryns, Orchomenos, Pylos and Thebes as well as the main stronghold in Mycenae but how much of what Homer wrote is fact and how much is myth is debated by historians.
After taking control of Crete, Mycenaean and Minoan art blended producing a wealth of figurines, sculptures, pottery and other art works. Great palaces have been found there and other structures such as residential buildings and advanced bridges show the level of engineering expertise they had.
Grave sites known as 'Beehive Tombs' have been found there containing valuable possessions such as weapons and armour and some have also been found with gold and jewellery inside, pointing to the affluence of the society; unusually, the bodies were buried in a seated position, rather than laying down as in most societies past or present.
The religious beliefs of the period are little understood but a few texts cover the subject, much of how they worshipped was strongly influenced by the Minoan's religious practices and would influence the Greek world for centuries to come. Important gods included Poseidon (associated with earthquakes), the Lady of the Labyrinth and the sea goddess Diwia. Evidence has also been found for the worship of Ares, Athena, Artemis, Erinya, Dionysus, Hermes and Zeus-Hera. As hardly any temples or shrines have been discovered, it is speculated that most rituals took place on open grounds or in peak sanctuaries.
Around 1100 BCE, Mycenaean civilisation came to an end. It is unclear why this happened, some experts think it was due to devastating invasions, others think that internal conflicts caused it or even a combination of the two factors. Whatever caused it, the downfall of the Mycenaeans brought in a period of troubled times in Greece that would last over 400 years, known as the 'Dark Ages'. During this time, Greeks stopped living in cities and formed into small tribes, some settled and some nomadic. These small tribes began the process of forming city states by the eighth century and allied with neighbouring tribes for trade and defence purposes.
The Dark Ages were followed by the Archaic Period, which lasted between c750 - 500 BCE and is defined by the artistic style of the pottery and sculptures of the day, which showed early stages of the naturalistic characteristics of the later classical period. The sculptures were influenced by Egyptian works and although unrealistic and generally severe, they were formulaic and noteworthy. Pottery developed from simple geometric styles to more of an oriental style influenced through trade with Phoenicia and Syria. The written language that was lost during the Dark Ages was re-established giving rise to western philosophy with the work of Thales of Miletus and early literature in the form of Homer's epics and the poetry of Hesiod, both from Ionia.
The Classical Period began in 480 and ended in 323 BCE and was dominated by Athens and Sparta, although many other cities such as Thebes, Corinth and Miletus played a role in the growth of culture during this period. The period began with the united city states defeating a Persian army that Herodotus described as the greatest army ever put together.
The Athenians led the way in the cultural growth in Greece and put together a system of democracy that set the standard for democracies in the west today. Art moved away from the abstract and supernatural and took on more of a naturalistic form as artists switched from merely 'suggesting' the human form and began 'describing' it accurately. The teachings of great thinkers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle also come from this period and have influenced western thinkers consistently for more than two thousand years.
Religion had evolved from the Bronze Age and most people now believed in various gods and goddesses and many different cults had formed around them. However, some of the thinkers of the day began to challenge the idea of many gods ruling over man, Plato believed in one supreme god and his disciple, Aristotle, believed that as he could find no empirical evidence for the existence of gods, there must have been one 'Prime Mover' god who created the universe but played no further part in it.
Sparta spent much of the period warring with other city states but over time, their military power diminished especially after two bad defeats against the Thebans at Leuctra in 371 BCE and again nine years later at Mantinea. Meanwhile, the Macedonians were growing in stature and became the dominant force in Greece after defeating the Athenians in 338 BCE. The king of the Macedonians, Philip II united much of Greece and had ambitions to take a united Greek force to Persia. He was assassinated in 336 but his son, Alexander the Great, would go on to fulfil his father's dream of expanding Greek territory.
Alexander led numerous campaigns gaining territories in Persia and as far afield as Egypt, India and Afghanistan and establishing the largest empire the world had known. These conquests and the unification of the city states that preceded them changed the face of not only Greece but of the ancient world and began the process of spreading Greek culture throughout the known world.
The Hellenistic Age followed and lasted between 323 - 146 BCE. During this 'Age of the Greeks' the art, literature, law, politics, religion, architecture and philosophy developed in the Classical Period was spread all over Greek territory. This idea of exporting culture to distant lands was new and resulted in a lasting influence on the western world right up to the present day.
The Hellenistic Period came to an end when the Roman Empire conquered most of mainland Greece and absorbed much of the territory held by Greek powers. However the last Hellenistic kingdom to fall was Ptolemaic Egypt, conquered by Rome in 30 BCE which brought about the absolute end to Greek dominance of the ancient world.