Ancient Greece
Greece is a hilly country in the extreme south of the Balkan Peninsula, it was
inhabited in prehistory. Its history begins at the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the
2nd millennium BC with the settlement of Indo-European tribes who called
themselves the Hellenes and the Romans the Greeks. During the second millennium
BC, two civilizations flourished in the Hellenic world: on the island of Crete under
the rule of the city of Knossos, while on the Peloponnese peninsula in central Greece,
the Mycenaean civilization developed.
At the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, Greeks or
Achaeans came to the extreme south of the Balkan Peninsula. They are believed to
have descended from the north, from the area around the Danube. Arriving in Greece,
the Achaeans are XXXX, that is. they quickly imposed their language and customs on
the population they found there. In the last centuries and millennia before, they were
not divided into two tribes:Jonce and Eolce.
At the time when the Hellenic tribes invaded Greece on the island of Crete, a
rich Minoan civilization flourished, named after the mythical king Minos. Crete was
initially divided into several smaller, independent kingdoms that were in conflict with
each other. In the middle of the second millennium BC, they were united under the
rule of the city of Kronos, in that period the Cretans ruled the eastern part of the
Mediterranean. Their power rested on a strong and well-organized fleet. Establishing
thalassocracy, ie. supremacy at sea, was attributed to Minos.
During the Cretan thalassocracy, the Minoan civilization spread beyond Crete.
One of its biggest hotspots was Gera, a basin in the Aegean Sea. The supremacy at sea
and the position of Crete between Hellas, Africa and Asia made it easy to establish
and maintain trade links throughout the Mediterranean.
Thalassocracy and the economic prosperity of Crete strongly influenced the
development of civilization. The richness of Minoan culture is best reflected in the
remains of royal palaces in some cities. The most famous of them is the Minoan
Palace, whose remains can still be seen in Knossos.
While the Minoan civilization flourished in Crete, the Achaeans established a
number of smaller kingdoms in the Peloponnese and central Greece. One of the most
important was Mycenae. That is why the period of the rise of these countries is called
the Mycenaean era (XVI - XII century BC). Important centers of Mycenaean culture
were also Pylos and Tiryns in the Peloponnese, as well as Orchomenus in Boeotia.
The power of the belligerent Achaeans quickly spread beyond Greece. About
1400 before that they crossed over to Crete and gradually conquered it. Their
settlements sprang up on the island of Rhodes and on the west coast of Asia Minor.
1
, The fall of Knossos under Achaean rule marked the end of the Cretan
thalassocracy. The Cretan merchants in the eastern and western Mediterranean were
replaced by the Achaeans, who did not have enough raw materials for production.
The Dorcians are the last Greek tribe to settle in Hejada, they were at a lower
level of development than their rivals the Achaeans and Jonas.
At the end of the 12th century, they first penetrated central Greece, and then
the Peloponnese across the Gulf of Corinth. The Dorcians destroyed Mycenae, Tiryns,
Pylos, etc. in the Peloponnese in a relatively short time.
In the first raid, houses outside the city walls were destroyed, and in the
second, the fortress suffered great damage, but it still survived. Only the third Doric
attack brought the final destruction of Mycenae (around 1150 BC).
The Doric invasion marked the beginning of a dark era in Greek history. The
demolition of the Mycenaean capitals led to the general decline of Hellas. It also
started a wave of migration of Greek tribes to the east.
The Aeolians and Ionians did not start establishing colonies on the west coast
of Asia Minor at the end of the 12th century. The most important among them were
the cities of Ephesus and Mallet.
He considers the period of Greek history, which began with the Doric
invasion, to be a "dark age" of pious sources. Archaeological sources and Homer's
epics "Iliad" and "Odyssey" provide the most information. That is why this period is
called the Homeric Age (XII-IX centuries BC).
During the Homeric era, Greece was divided into several independent states.
The population of each of them was divided into tribes (fillets), fraternities (phratries)
and clans (genoses). Over time, individual clans began to separate. These genera
formed the embryo of the aristocracy.
At the head of each community stood the king (basileus). He was the supreme
commander of the army during the war, he consulted with the military assembly on
strategies and division of booty, he relied on councils made up of elders of the most
prominent families in conducting state affairs, and he convened an assembly.
Greece is a predominantly hilly country, such a relief has conditioned its
political fragmentation. The Hellenes never created a single state, but lived in polises,
independent cities - states. The first polises appeared in the VIII century BC Among
the most important are Sparta, Athens and Corinth. Polises were created by uniting
rural communities or smaller towns around one administrative, economic and cultural
center. In ancient times, all power in the polis rested in the hands of the aristocracy.
Craftsmen, merchants and peasants did not have any political rights, thanks to the
progress of crafts and trade, members of the middle classes also began to get rich over
time. Thus, they sought a greater role in governing the state. Thus, political struggles
for power began in the Greek police.
From the VIII-VI century before, they did not establish colonies in the entire
Mediterranean, on the shores of the Marmara and Black Seas. The causes of these
colonizations were the search for fertile land, the inability to feed their families, and
the establishment of these colonies was influenced by economic interests (Greek
merchants were looking for new markets).
2
, Before the colonies, the barbarians became acquainted with the Greek
language, religion and way of life. Many of them received Greek customs and culture.
This process is called Hellenization.
Athens
Athens (Greek Asia) is the capital of Greece. It is named after the goddess of
wisdom from Greek mythology, Athena. It is considered the cradle of Western
civilization due to its cultural contributions in the 4th and 5th centuries BC. It was one
of the strongest polises in Greece.
Today's Athens is a modern and large city where about 3.8 million people live.
In the 8th and 7th centuries BC, a great political power gradually developed in
Greece, destined to take the lead in the politics and civilization of all Greeks for
several centuries. It was an Athenian polis founded on the Attica peninsula in the
fertile plain below Mount Himet. The Athens polis was the economic and political
center of Attica.
According to Athenian legends, there were 12 special, separate and mutually
independent tribal communities on the territory of Attica in ancient times.
The process of unification of Attica lasted at least 200-300 years. Thus united,
it became the exclusive and powerful political center of the gifted Ionian people with
enough inhabitants and natural resources to be the mistress of all Ionians.
The process of unification itself differed in that there was no class of serfs in
Attica of the Mycenaean era as the basis of economic life and that a new order was
established through evolution and agreement. Here we come across a reversal of the
independent date associated with the name of the mythical King Theseus, a change
that the Greeks call Sinoikism. Sinoikism is a long-term process conditioned by
significant changes in the organization of old social relations. The development of the
3
Greece is a hilly country in the extreme south of the Balkan Peninsula, it was
inhabited in prehistory. Its history begins at the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the
2nd millennium BC with the settlement of Indo-European tribes who called
themselves the Hellenes and the Romans the Greeks. During the second millennium
BC, two civilizations flourished in the Hellenic world: on the island of Crete under
the rule of the city of Knossos, while on the Peloponnese peninsula in central Greece,
the Mycenaean civilization developed.
At the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, Greeks or
Achaeans came to the extreme south of the Balkan Peninsula. They are believed to
have descended from the north, from the area around the Danube. Arriving in Greece,
the Achaeans are XXXX, that is. they quickly imposed their language and customs on
the population they found there. In the last centuries and millennia before, they were
not divided into two tribes:Jonce and Eolce.
At the time when the Hellenic tribes invaded Greece on the island of Crete, a
rich Minoan civilization flourished, named after the mythical king Minos. Crete was
initially divided into several smaller, independent kingdoms that were in conflict with
each other. In the middle of the second millennium BC, they were united under the
rule of the city of Kronos, in that period the Cretans ruled the eastern part of the
Mediterranean. Their power rested on a strong and well-organized fleet. Establishing
thalassocracy, ie. supremacy at sea, was attributed to Minos.
During the Cretan thalassocracy, the Minoan civilization spread beyond Crete.
One of its biggest hotspots was Gera, a basin in the Aegean Sea. The supremacy at sea
and the position of Crete between Hellas, Africa and Asia made it easy to establish
and maintain trade links throughout the Mediterranean.
Thalassocracy and the economic prosperity of Crete strongly influenced the
development of civilization. The richness of Minoan culture is best reflected in the
remains of royal palaces in some cities. The most famous of them is the Minoan
Palace, whose remains can still be seen in Knossos.
While the Minoan civilization flourished in Crete, the Achaeans established a
number of smaller kingdoms in the Peloponnese and central Greece. One of the most
important was Mycenae. That is why the period of the rise of these countries is called
the Mycenaean era (XVI - XII century BC). Important centers of Mycenaean culture
were also Pylos and Tiryns in the Peloponnese, as well as Orchomenus in Boeotia.
The power of the belligerent Achaeans quickly spread beyond Greece. About
1400 before that they crossed over to Crete and gradually conquered it. Their
settlements sprang up on the island of Rhodes and on the west coast of Asia Minor.
1
, The fall of Knossos under Achaean rule marked the end of the Cretan
thalassocracy. The Cretan merchants in the eastern and western Mediterranean were
replaced by the Achaeans, who did not have enough raw materials for production.
The Dorcians are the last Greek tribe to settle in Hejada, they were at a lower
level of development than their rivals the Achaeans and Jonas.
At the end of the 12th century, they first penetrated central Greece, and then
the Peloponnese across the Gulf of Corinth. The Dorcians destroyed Mycenae, Tiryns,
Pylos, etc. in the Peloponnese in a relatively short time.
In the first raid, houses outside the city walls were destroyed, and in the
second, the fortress suffered great damage, but it still survived. Only the third Doric
attack brought the final destruction of Mycenae (around 1150 BC).
The Doric invasion marked the beginning of a dark era in Greek history. The
demolition of the Mycenaean capitals led to the general decline of Hellas. It also
started a wave of migration of Greek tribes to the east.
The Aeolians and Ionians did not start establishing colonies on the west coast
of Asia Minor at the end of the 12th century. The most important among them were
the cities of Ephesus and Mallet.
He considers the period of Greek history, which began with the Doric
invasion, to be a "dark age" of pious sources. Archaeological sources and Homer's
epics "Iliad" and "Odyssey" provide the most information. That is why this period is
called the Homeric Age (XII-IX centuries BC).
During the Homeric era, Greece was divided into several independent states.
The population of each of them was divided into tribes (fillets), fraternities (phratries)
and clans (genoses). Over time, individual clans began to separate. These genera
formed the embryo of the aristocracy.
At the head of each community stood the king (basileus). He was the supreme
commander of the army during the war, he consulted with the military assembly on
strategies and division of booty, he relied on councils made up of elders of the most
prominent families in conducting state affairs, and he convened an assembly.
Greece is a predominantly hilly country, such a relief has conditioned its
political fragmentation. The Hellenes never created a single state, but lived in polises,
independent cities - states. The first polises appeared in the VIII century BC Among
the most important are Sparta, Athens and Corinth. Polises were created by uniting
rural communities or smaller towns around one administrative, economic and cultural
center. In ancient times, all power in the polis rested in the hands of the aristocracy.
Craftsmen, merchants and peasants did not have any political rights, thanks to the
progress of crafts and trade, members of the middle classes also began to get rich over
time. Thus, they sought a greater role in governing the state. Thus, political struggles
for power began in the Greek police.
From the VIII-VI century before, they did not establish colonies in the entire
Mediterranean, on the shores of the Marmara and Black Seas. The causes of these
colonizations were the search for fertile land, the inability to feed their families, and
the establishment of these colonies was influenced by economic interests (Greek
merchants were looking for new markets).
2
, Before the colonies, the barbarians became acquainted with the Greek
language, religion and way of life. Many of them received Greek customs and culture.
This process is called Hellenization.
Athens
Athens (Greek Asia) is the capital of Greece. It is named after the goddess of
wisdom from Greek mythology, Athena. It is considered the cradle of Western
civilization due to its cultural contributions in the 4th and 5th centuries BC. It was one
of the strongest polises in Greece.
Today's Athens is a modern and large city where about 3.8 million people live.
In the 8th and 7th centuries BC, a great political power gradually developed in
Greece, destined to take the lead in the politics and civilization of all Greeks for
several centuries. It was an Athenian polis founded on the Attica peninsula in the
fertile plain below Mount Himet. The Athens polis was the economic and political
center of Attica.
According to Athenian legends, there were 12 special, separate and mutually
independent tribal communities on the territory of Attica in ancient times.
The process of unification of Attica lasted at least 200-300 years. Thus united,
it became the exclusive and powerful political center of the gifted Ionian people with
enough inhabitants and natural resources to be the mistress of all Ionians.
The process of unification itself differed in that there was no class of serfs in
Attica of the Mycenaean era as the basis of economic life and that a new order was
established through evolution and agreement. Here we come across a reversal of the
independent date associated with the name of the mythical King Theseus, a change
that the Greeks call Sinoikism. Sinoikism is a long-term process conditioned by
significant changes in the organization of old social relations. The development of the
3
