Scattered Candles in the Night – Civilization during the Greek Dark Age (c. 1100-750 BC)

For most of the three centuries between 1500 and 1200 BC. C., the Meenan

civilization

encompassed and dominated much of the Greek-speaking world. It was known for its monumental palaces and fortified citadels, armored warriors who were some of the most formidable in the ancient world, and its extensive trade. The networks they controlled throughout the Mediterranean feared that their kings would be respected and treated as equals by the other great powers of the time, including the Hittites and the Egyptians of the New Kingdom era, but by the end of the 13th century BC. C. Myan society began to crumble and by 1150 BC.

C. their political and economic systems that once dominated much of Greece and the Aan had collapsed. The reasons for this are still debated among historians, but what is clear is that the Greek-speaking world soon entered a period of decline and fragmentation. The centers had come to a complete standstill and most of them were also abandoned or occupied by squatters. There is no monumental art where stone structures were commissioned and trade between the Greek mainland and the rest of the world became extremely limited in 1050 BC. C. most of the things Meenan had ever done. The great

civilization

had almost disappeared from the Pipinas ATA fota and the islands of the Sea of ​​Aan, while there were some areas where aspects of the Meinian civilization still survived.

These places were the exception rather than the norm. Scholars estimate that the general population of Greece may have disappeared. has been drastically reduced to only a third of what it had been between 1400 and 1200 BC. C., which said that not everything was pessimism, the

dark

ness of the approximately 3 and a half centuries between

1100

and 750 BC. C. is more due to our lack Historians called the period of Greek history between

1100

and 750 BC. C. a Dark Age due to the relative obscurity in the archaeological record and the lack of written documents compared to those of the late Bronze Age. Age, as well as the archaic and later classical periods, but what really happened during this time and was as sinister as its name implies, let us discover that, like us today, the Greeks of later times did not have any concrete knowledge about the period they we called.

During the Dark Ages, however, there appear to be some vague historical memories of these crucial years mentioned in the works of later Greek poets, writers, and historians; For example, many argue that several passages from Homer's great epic, The Odyssey, take place during the aftermath. of the Trojan War are full of references to the end of the Dark Ages. The Odyssey often describes the years following the great conflict as characterized by chaos, upheaval, and a general breakdown of the traditional social order about three or four centuries after the Odyssey was written. The noted historian Thiddies may also have been referring to the

dark

ages when he wrote, even after the Trojan War, Helis was still busy moving and settling and therefore could not achieve the tranquility that must precede growth.

The late return of the Helens of the ilam caused many revolutions and Years later, factions arose almost everywhere, the Dorians and the Heraclids became owners of the pipinas, so much had to be done and many years had to pass before that Helis could achieve lasting tranquility, undisturbed by removals, and could begin to send out colonies as Athens did. to Ionia and most of the islands and the Pelians to most of Italy and Sicily and some places in the rest of Greece all these places were founded after the war with Troy, today we know that the Greeks who lived in the following centuries to the Bronze Age they knew very little about their Myan ancestors and what they thought they knew has not yet been verified by modern archaeology;

For example, they believed that the Dorians, a Greek-speaking group from somewhere in the north, had invaded central and southern Greece following the collapse of the Meenan civilization. So far there is little material evidence of such an invasion and many scholars today strongly reject this narrative. What the archaeological record seems to indicate is that many of the villages, towns and cities that once existed in the Greek-speaking world were mostly abandoned, which could have been due to various factors, a group of scholars believe that violence which contributed to the destruction and fall of the Meenan palace system also destroyed many of the region's farms and killed large numbers of people who worked on them in the decades that there was then not enough labor available to produce the surplus of food necessary to increase or at least maintain the population to what it had been during the Late Bronze Age, although perhaps not the main cause.

Migration to other areas of the world also played a role in the depopulation of mainland Greece in the 11th and 10th centuries BC. The largest number of immigrants appear to have crossed the Aan to the shores of western Anatolia in modern Turkey. The most famous of these movements is known as the Ionian migration, which most scholars estimate occurred around 1050 BC. C., most of these immigrants came from the Atta region, where Athens is located. Five centuries later, the Ionian Greeks in Anatolia still shared the same dialect tribal names and many of the same festivals as the Athenians, there were also settlements of Aolian-speaking Greeks. and Doric dialects in western Asia Minor, as well as other groups of Greek-speaking peoples went to Cyprus, Canaan and parts of the Levant, but after a few generations their ties to the continent and the preservation of their Greek identity were not as strong as those of those who had settled on the western Anatolian coast, whether due to migratory war diseases or some other reason, in the 10th century BC.

About two-thirds of the population that once inhabited the Greek mainland had disappeared due to this decline and the apparent lack of real material progress, many if not most scholars of Hellenic studies often painted a picture of the Dark Age Greece that had receded into a primitive, insignificant backwater in the southeastern corner of Europe; However, archaeological excavations carried out during the latter part of the 20th century up to the present day show that this was the case. Not necessarily so, I'm sure the great citadels of Meenan and the economies centered around them disappeared long ago, but life for most people did not change as much as scholars had once believed.

Farmers Artisans Metallurgists Weavers Carpenters Potters and other specialists still practice their professions in the same way they do. had during the Meenan era, although with a lower level of production and much less sophisticated goods, the Greeks also retained many aspects of their religion and many of the deities of the Myan era were still worshiped by the masses, they were also produced many positive changes and innovations. during the Dark Ages in Greece, one of the most important being the adoption of iron to make weapons and tools, although it was developed centuries earlier in the Near East. Objects made of iron actually appeared in significant numbers on the Greek mainland in the late 12th and 11th centuries.

BC, the Meenans apparently did not love iron, as it did not shine like bronze and was quite clumsy in comparison; However, with the sharp decline in international trade during the Greek Dark Ages, obtaining copper and especially tin had become much more difficult and for many simply. On the contrary, it was unaffordable, there were adequate local sources of iron or that could be extracted from the hills and mountains of the Atta and Eva pipines, so, due to its availability, at a relatively low cost and also out of necessity, in the year 950 BC. C. iron became the most used. metal in Greece as trade with the eastern Mediterranean began to increase, so did Greek shipbuilding and sea navigation;

However, it was still a far cry from the volume and traffic of Meenan's time, partly because many sailors and merchants no longer had support or patronage. Of the large palace centers, although we do not have the specific details of how they operated without a state sponsor, it is possible that those with some means, such as the local chieftain, provided at least some form of financial support to sailors and merchants in exchange for a part. of profits or other forms of compensation, the presence of local elites is attested not only by the discovery of tombs belonging to distinguished people but also by buildings that, while not on the same scale as the palaces of Pas Meenan, could only have been high-status residences.

Members of the society, based on their limited findings, archaeologists believe that the various known settlements that were active during the Dark Ages contained no more than a few dozen people, with the exception of Athens, Argos, Corinth, robbers and kosis. on cre. In each of these places the population is estimated. to have numbered only a few thousand, many of those who inherited the political authority of their various chieftainships adopted the title of vasilos, who on the Meenan Linear B tablets appear to have been someone who served the king or wanx as a kind of mayor. or chief of the peripheral cities and towns that surrounded a palace center or citadel in later periods of Greek history, this title would come to mean king or lord in the Greek Dark Ages, such men ruled towns with a dozen or two families, but There seemed to have been exceptions where at least some of them had significant resources and manpower at their disposal, with two such examples at Nioria in the southwestern Pipines and Leandi on the island of IA during the Late Bronze Age Nioria.

It had been part of the kingdom of Pyos but was abandoned around 1200 BC, when that entity met a devastating end, however it was reoccupied just over a century later with an estimated population of perhaps a couple hundred residents, while other Parts of the Greek mainland may have been in decline. Nioria seems to have been booming due to abundance. of good farmland surrounding it and other wide open spaces where livestock could graze around 950 BC. C., the city may have had between 40 and 50 families living on its ridge overlooking the plane. It is here that a large 10th-century building is found, which archaeologists call the village chief's house.

A large piss and porch were discovered. In front of it was a large courtyard that may have functioned as a religious center or a communal warehouse. . Archaeologists are not sure what its true purpose may have been, but given its size, they believed that whoever lived there was a person of very high status. On the other side of Greece is the village of leandi on the large island of IA here in 1981 Archaeologists discovered the largest Dark Age structure to date as Nioria Leandi was also a prosperous Dark Age city that had its roots dating back to at least the Myan era, the building discovered there dates back to around from 950 BC.

C. and measures 150 by 30 feet with two sunken funerary shafts in the central room of the building. In one of the pits were two pairs of horses, reminiscent of the elite burials of notable warriors of the Late Bronze Age, the other pit contained the cremated remains of a man whose ashes had been placed in an aora of bronze made in Cyprus and whose artistic style dated back at least a century earlier. Even more mysterious were the remains of a woman next to the aora believed to have been his wife, her remains were adorned almost entirely with gold along with an elaborate necklace that appears to have come from the Near East and, according to its stylistic attributes, already It was about 700 years old at the time. of her burial next to her head was an ivory-handled dagger that some believe may have been the instrument of her death if she, like the horses, had been offered as a sacrifice to be buried with her husband along with the aora and the woman's body. iron weapons including a sword and a spearhead after the burial the building was demolished and covered by a mound of earth and large stones in which several people would have participated in moving them a cemetery was also built around the mound and many of these tombs They ended up having relatively luxurious objects of their own, such as jewelry and bronze vessels, which were imported from various parts of the world from the eastern Mediterranean and beyond.

The man's identity is unknown, but scholars believe he was a wealthy warrior and probably the chief of the People who may have had some contacts with the east or made some expedition there himself within his village, although he appears to have been revered both in life and death as a kind of hero around the same time as the mysterious man of leandi era A new style of pottery and art began to appear in mainland Greece during the first two centuries of the Dark Ages. The potters and painters were quite conservative with their creations and did notThey innovated a lot, but around the year 900 BC.

C. geometric designs were differentiated. were painted on pottery, this marks the Dark Age subperiod that archaeologists conveniently call the Geometric period. The Geometric Period is divided into three art historical phases, specifically the Early Geometric Period, 900 to 700 BC, the Middle Geometric Period, 850 to 850 BC. C. and finally the late geometric period from 750 to 700 BC. C., at first incorporating circular spiral and zigzag designs. Greek pottery and other arts gradually began to incorporate common everyday motifs and representations of animals and people. By the year 750 BC. C., such pieces had become extremely popular and came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, around the same time, new luxury items such as gold jewelry and more ornate bronze vessels were being developed locally, indicating that the Raw materials from abroad were once again finding their way to Greece's markets.

The increase in prosperity of the region. It can also be determined by the fact that in many settlements the overall quality of house construction greatly improved. Perhaps the most important and most lasting change during the late Dark Ages was the adoption of a new alphabet, although the art of writing had been lost in The Greek-speaking world during the Middle Ages revitalized trade and contacts with Canaanite merchants. and Phoenicians in the 9th century BC. C. may have recreated the need of many Greeks to write things in a way they no longer did. They adopted their own writing system, the Phoenician alphabet, but modified it by adding characters for vowels that were not present in the Phoenician version 22l.

The result was a new Greek alphabet and writing system and, in the mid-8th century BC. C., had spread to everyone. parts of the Greek world that allowed Greek speakers to communicate with each other over long distances and write everything from simple pros to epic poetry in the early 8th century BC. their common language shared epic literature Pantheon of similar deities and festivals increased the sense of panhellenism where people from various parts of Greece felt affinity or kinship with other Greek-speaking peoples through their shared heritage, perhaps nothing was more responsible for creating This early sense of pan-Hellenism than the two great epics attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, these Two Great Works played a fundamental role in helping to forge a shared Greek identity and foster cultural cohesion.

They also became the main source of knowledge that the Greeks had about their glorious past or at least that is what they thought. We must remember that The Iliad and The Odysseys are not historical texts but epic poems full of myths that most of the scholars of Today they believe that the events described in them, particularly those related to the great conflict known as the Trojan War, contain some elements of Truth for the Greeks of the late Dark Ages. it provided them with at least some cultural knowledge and a historical memory of their ancestors along with codes of conduct they were expected to abide by;

Undoubtedly, the widespread use of the Greek alphabet at this time also helped spread Homer's words to all corners of the world. In the Greek-speaking world, the beginning of the 8th century BC. C. was also when many Panh Hellenic religious sanctuaries and sanctuaries appeared with festivals that reinforced the idea that Greeks everywhere belonged to the same religious and cultural traditions. The worshipers who came to them participated in common rituals and sacrifices to honor the gods and listen to the epic stories of antiquity, the most famous of these meetings was held at the sanctuary of Zeus and Hera at Olympia, where in the year 776 BC .

C. the first Olympic Games were held, the athletic competitions and celebrations that were held every year. Initially, four years included sports such as running and wrestling, but later competitions such as horse and chariot racing were also added. As we learn more about the Greek Dark Ages, it becomes clear that it was not as bad as many had originally thought; if anything, it was a formative period of Greek history that allowed for the basic foundations of what we recognize today as civilization. Greek crystallization not only culturally but also politically, as it laid the foundation for the eventual emergence of the polus or city-state, this transformation of the ancient chieftaincy-dominated society into one centered on the city-state was a pivotal period, if not turbulent, of Greek history.

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