Ancient Greece Essay Research Paper SubMycenaean Period

Ancient Greece Essay, Research Paper Sub-Mycenaean Period and the Early Iron Age (Protogeometric Period) Circa 1100 – 900 B.C. The final collapse of the Mycenaean civilization around 1100 BC marked the end of the Aegean Bronze Age. A period of severe economic and cultural depression followed. The depths of this depression occurred from circa 1100 to 1050, in what is known as the Sub-Mycenaean (on the Greek mainland) or Sub-Minoan period (on Crete). Crude, simplified versions of the old Mycenaean and Minoan pottery were produced. Metal craftsmanship was mostly rudimentary, although the new technology of iron working was adopted, perhaps from Cyprus. The next century and a half (ca. 1050 to ca. 900 BC), known as the Protogeometric period from its pottery, represented a time

of ever-increasing recovery. Colonies from mainland Greece and the nearby islands settled on the west coast of Asia Minor and the north coast of the Aegean. Strong trade links with the Near East were again established, and there was a gradual increase in wealth. Craftsmanship again became skilled, as is seen in both . Geometric period The Geometric period was a time of startling innovation and transformation in Greek society. The population dramatically increased and proto-urban life re-emerged, bringing with it overcrowding and political tensions. The Greeks moved to new lands to the east and west where they founded commercial trading posts and colonies. Written language, lost with the passing of the Mycenaean civilization, re-emerged with the adoption of the Semitic alphabetic

script, encountered through contacts with the Phoenicians. It is probably in this same period that the epic poems of Homer, such as the Iliad, became widely known and were recorded. Sanctuaries, sacred zones devoted to the worship of deities, developed. As the worship of the gods became formalized, so the need arose for temples to house the deities+ statues. Early Archaic Period Circa 700 – 600 B.C. During this period, the concept of the polis, the Greek city-state, became well developed. Tyrannical political figures seized control of many of these city-states in the 7th and 6th centuries. Greek colonies abroad continued to flourish and new settlements were established, particularly in the region of the Black Sea. Colonies were founded at Mediterranean sites such as Cyrene on

the North African coast and Massilia (Marseilles) in southern France. Highly developed commercial contacts continued in Egypt, Anatolia and the Levant. These contacts stimulated an influx of eastern imports and the manufacture of Greek objects with an “oriental” appearance or featuring “oriental” motifs. was invented by the East Greeks or by the Lydians, the neighbors of the Greeks on the coast of Asia Minor, and was systematically adopted by the Greek city-states. The first Greek monumental stone sculpture appeared. The Doric and Ionic architectural orders were born and the Greek temple reached its developed form. Archaic Period Circa 600 – 479 B.C. The city-states continued to flourish during the Archaic period, in spite of internal political and social unrest. By the

6th century BC a majority of the most important and powerful city-states were ruled by tyrants. Commerce and the arts flourished under the auspices of these more or less benevolent dictators. Corinth especially prospered. Athens undertook a massive building program, and the region of Attica dominated the pottery market for about a century and a half with its high-quality pottery. The origins of democracy can be traced to Athens in the years following the fall of the tyrannical Peisistratids (560-510 BC). By the beginning of the Archaic period large statues of nude males (kouroi ) and draped females (korai ) were produced as dedications for sanctuaries and as markers for graves. Colossal marble temples to house huge cult images of the gods were built in various parts of the Greek