|
|
 |
| (Dark Age Amphora's) |
The downfall of the Mycenaean age came swiftly and was due to multiple causes. Upon the advent of its destruction, the Iron Age Dorians invaded the Greek peninsula from the north (estimated time 1200BC to 1100BC). Atop the invasion, civil war also entered mainland Greece, directly following the Dorian invasion. What followed was a period known aptly as the Greek Dark Ages.
The Dark Ages lasted from 1100 BC until 800 BC, or relatively to the time of Hellenic or Classical Greece. During this time the culture of Greece dwindled. Little is known of how many cultural elements were lost during the Dark Ages, but characteristic of the Dark Age, is the gradual decimation of any urbanized culture on the Greek mainland. In addition, many of the elements left from Mycenaean culture were destroyed, and writing, which had been so important during the Mycenaean, was not practiced. The great trading empire which had begun with the Minoans and was inherited by the Mycenaean's, was destroyed in the Dark Ages. Trade with Asia Minor, the Middle East, and Egypt stopped entirely. Artistic elements of the time portray simple geometrical designs and patterns.
During the Dorian invasions, which occurred continually on mainland Greece and down through the Peloponnese, entire villages were abandoned, and migrations occurred toward the islands of the Aegean. Dorian rule in many cities and villages was of either two types. The first type consisted of the Dorians entering a city and assimilating themselves into it. The second type, as in the case of Sparta and Argos, created an upper caste which consisted exclusively of themselves, leaving the lower caste entirely made of native citizens--a life of serfdom. What followed the initial invasion and rule of the Dorians and the Greek civil war, (within the years of 1200BC to 750BC) was a shift in lifestyle, centered around a moderately sedentary agricultural lifestyle. However, though Greek civilization had hit its lowest point, the idle time of 450 years allowed the Greeks to rediscover urbanized culture, which in turn created the tales and cultures of Greece as they are classically and popularly known.
Link to works cited:
