Did You Know Ancient Greece Had Its Dark Ages?

The cities of Ancient Greece are, second perhaps to Ancient Rome, the most visually iconic part of the tapestry of Western history. However, the most popular image of Ancient Greece, as it existed during its most famous chapters such as the Persian Wars, makes up only a fraction of the civilization's complete history. Indeed, what historians consider Ancient Greece lasted for millennia and underwent many dramatic transformations. The Mycenaeans of the Bronze Age were the stock from which the myths of the Trojan War emerged, while the Classical Greeks were the Athenians, Spartans and other city-states who fought the Persian Empire and then each other. But between them lies an epoch and a people often neglected, the Geometric Greeks and their so-called Dark Age. Between 1100 and 700 BCE, Greece slipped into a four-century transition between the apocalyptic catastrophe of the Bronze Age collapse and the emergence of the iconic Greek city-states of the Classical era. When the art of writing was lost, great monuments ceased to be built and the Greek people went dark, so to speak. In this episode, we'll investigate what this Geometric Age was and discover that Dark Age is actually a misnomer. Welcome to our video on the Post-Mycenaean Geometric Age of Greece. This video is sponsored by you! Unfortunately, the YouTube environment is not great right now, with the algorithm being friendlier to drama and react channels and YouTube being permissive of AI slop. We don't do drama and we don't do AI, but thanks to our members and patrons, our channel continues to make 3 public videos per week, with the team intact and going strong. In recognition of their generosity and contributions, members and patrons receive 2 additional exclusive videos each week and access many other perks. Join them to watch more than 250 exclusive videos covering every era of history. Join them by scanning the QR code on your screen, via the links in the description or pinned comment, or by pressing the join button under the video. The period between the decline of the Bronze Age Greek civilization, known as the Mycenaeans, and the rise of the most famous Greek polis, is known as the Geometric Age of Greece. Spanning from the 1100s to the 700s BCE, it's often been called a Dark Age, especially by older scholars from the dawn of the 20th century. English and German scholars at the time noted the absence of written records from those 5 centuries and of visible archaeological remnants. Part of the reason why the name stuck for most of the 20th century was the lavish eras that preceded and succeeded the Geometric Era. The Mycenaean Greeks lived in large palatial complexes throughout southern Greece and presided over a wealthy, sophisticated civilization, with commercial ties throughout the Mediterranean. The Classical Greeks built incredible architectural feats, such as the Parthenon, and lived under complex city-state political structures. The two epochs also had their own writing, the Linear B script for the Mycenaeans and the Greek alphabet for the Classical Greeks. The Geometric Greeks did not have a fully developed writing system, though the roots of the Greek alphabet were planted at this time. It is this initial scarcity of archaeological evidence and the permanent lack of historical materials that gave the Dark Age its shadowy name. Intriguingly, the Archaic and Classical Age Greeks of the 8th to 5th centuries BCE did not believe that their ancestors from centuries earlier had lived in a Dark Age. Instead, their mythology was filled with tales of heroic migrations and the founding of new cities across Hellas by their descendants in the aftermath of the famous Trojan War. As more archaeological research was conducted in Greece and other parts of the world where Greeks lived, the views of the ancients and the moderns began to converge. It is now much more common to view the Geometric Age as a time of profound political and cultural transition. During which the Mycenaean world declined and a new one rose in its place. The other name for the period, the Geometric Age, refers to the ornate designs that adorn its pottery. Many typical ancient Greek designs, such as the square wave pattern known as the Myanda, most likely originated during this period in Greece itself. It is this pottery that has provided the chronology for this unique part of Hellenic history, making the name Geometric a rather fitting one for the age. With this in mind, we can begin our journey through this transient stage of Hellas' odyssey through time. The Geometric Age of Greece begins roughly in the 1100s BCE, when the previous iteration of the civilization was in decline. The Mycenaean Greeks were a powerful society that lasted from the 1500s to 1200s BCE. They are known for elaborate bronze armour and weapons, as well as palatial centres from which elites managed the surrounding territories through what was probably a state-controlled economy. Their decline in the 1200s BCE was long understood as part of the Bronze Age Collapse, a term used to describe the supposedly sudden decline in social complexity among civilizations such as the Hittites across the eastern Mediterranean. The idea of collapse has been questioned by many scholars, but it is undeniable that social upheaval occurred across parts of Greece at this time. Many reasons have been put forward for this chaos, climate change, earthquakes, and the famous Dorian descent. The latter is an idea that migrants speaking the Dorian dialect of ancient Greek moved south with their iron weapons and destroyed the Mycenaeans. However, this theory is little more than conjecture. The destruction seen in Mycenaean palaces is thus probably due to internal conflict. Two major paradoxes emerge when archaeologists examine the period's material culture. One is the possible connection between many Greek populations and the infamous Sea Peoples, seafarers whose raids contributed to the havoc at the end of the Bronze Age. It is likely that some Greeks who left their homeland amid upheavals joined these roving bands. The other paradox is the uneven nature of destruction in mainland Greece. Some palatial centres, such as those in Mycenae in the southern Peloponnese and Mycenae itself, were ultimately abandoned. Others, like the eastern Peloponnese and the Ionians, not only survived but thrived during this time. As we can see, the decline of the Mycenaeans was uneven, chaotic, and sometimes still shrouded in mystery. This kaleidoscope of paradoxes would continue well into the Geometric Age. Perhaps the most important development of the Geometric Age is the large-scale Greek migrations documented in the archaeological record of surrounding regions, such as Asia Minor and Cyprus. Indeed, despite the apparent chaos of the 1100s, the Geometric Age actually saw trade in Hellas continue. What did change was the location of many craftspeople. The upheavals in Greece caused people to seek their luck elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Thus began the so-called first wave of colonization in ancient Greek history, which lasted for a couple of centuries. The Greeks chose numerous destinations for colonization, many of which they had known of since the Bronze Age. The two best-known examples of Greek migrations at this time are Asia Minor and Cyprus. Both were known to the Mycenaean Greeks, as pottery from the 1300s BCE has been found at archaeological sites in the region. But the tough times that many in Eastern Greece experienced only increased population moves in Asia Minor and Cyprus. Many cities that would later become important parts of the Greek world, such as Miletus, Smyrna, and Ephesus, were likely first settled by Greek migrants at this time. Greek speakers across all dialectic groups are attested to have participated in these migratory missions, as Dorian, Ionian, and Iolian speakers colonized different parts of the western shores of Asia Minor. Hellenism became a fundamental pillar of the multicultural Anatolian lands from then on, until the tragic expulsion of Greeks from Turkey in 1923. The island of Cyprus was partially affected by the upheavals of the Bronze Age, but became even more economically productive in the Geometric Age. Trade with the Near East and Sardinia increased at this time, drawing Greek specialists to Cyprus, where they produced replicas of popular Greek wares. These Greeks were joined by Phoenicians, and coexisted with the local Ateo-Cypriot population. At some point during this period, the famous city-kingdoms of Cyprus emerged, merging Levantine god-king and Greek hero-king ideologies within their local priest-kings. The Greek Cypriot community's origins lie in this period, and it has coexisted with other ethnic and religious groups until the modern era. Following the pattern of transitions, the Geometric Age saw a transition in the political and mercantile life of Greece. Trade in the 1000s to 900s BCE is evident in the growth of several ports in Hellas. For instance, Lefkandi, a site on the large island of Vyboia, was a regional mercantile hub. Cemeteries from the 1000s to 800s BCE show artifacts stemming from trade in the Levant and Cyprus. The site existed since the Bronze Age, and remained relatively prosperous throughout the Geometric Period, only declining after the rise of Eritrea in the 800s BCE. Besides the locations of some important ports, what else changed in the parts of Geometric Greece that saw upheavals at the end of the Bronze Age? In a word, political economy. Archaeologists assume the Mycenaean palaces were sites of significant wealth and control over natural resources, as indicated by the shiny, expensive armor worn by the Pelasian aristocracy. Whether these palaces had absolute control over the economy is unclear, but the Geometric Age saw the rise of merchants who acted independently of the erstwhile Bronze Age aristocrats. According to Andrew and Susan Sherratt, the upheavals in trade networks at the end of the Bronze Age led either to the rise of powerful managerial states, or to individual merchants who could weather the chaos to survive it. These merchants are the foundation of Geometric Greece's economy, trading across the Eastern Mediterranean. Indeed, the nature of political power in Greece underwent major change during the Geometric Period. The former aristocrats who sang in the Homeric epics survived only in parts of Hellas that did not experience political upheaval. In the rest of Greece, many large palatial centers declined or were replaced by smaller, nearby villages. Archaeological mapping in Attica shows that, rather than a single large settlement, small settlements surrounding regional hubs were the norm in that rugged part of Hellenic land. It appears that the ancient Greeks rejected many aristocratic practices and focused on small communities with fragmented political authority. It was from these communities that some of the classical city-states of Hellas emerged. In Northern Greece, the story is a bit different from the situation in the South. The Bronze Age saw no rise of large palatial complexes there, but during the Geometric Age, settlement growth is attested. By the Archaic Age, the predecessor of the Kingdom of Macedon would emerge in the region. Thus, the Geometric Age is an epoch of chaos forging itself into order. We shall now discuss the cultural and religious changes of the Geometric Age. We've already discussed how the pottery of Geometric Greece developed, and what designs it used. In addition to pottery, many other cultural developments occurred. It appears that in many parts of rural Hellas, people changed their community's agriculture to focus on olive and wine cultivation. But in some parts of the surviving large settlements, new techniques of harnessing and managing metals were adopted. Given that this is the start of the Iron Age, iron became increasingly important in Hellenic material culture. In addition, this was the time when the Greek alphabet as we know it today developed. At some point during their travels in the 900s BCE, the Greeks came into contact with the Phoenicians in the Levant, and over time, likely by the end of the 8th century, adopted the Phoenician writing system. This was not an overnight process. Variants of Proto-Greek alphabets with various letters appear in Euboea, Crete and Attica. It is unclear where script adoption first occurred. Candidates include Cyprus, Crete and the Levant, but what is certain is that the Greeks now had a functional, easy-to-use script that replaced the esoteric linear B. The field of religion also saw fascinating transitions during the Geometric Age. The Mycenaean Greeks, as we know from linear B tablets, already worshipped many of the deities the Hellenes are known for. These included Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo and Hephaestus. However, Mycenaean worship was not confined to household shrines. It also operated in palatial and other communal settings. What changed in the Early Iron Age is not the sudden appearance of public religion, but the evolving form and visibility of sanctuaries. In the Geometric Age, the beginnings of public shrines are attested to as early as the 900s BCE. Some of these ended up becoming shrines not just to gods, but to heroes. These so-called proto-heroes might have been connected to important figures from the Mycenaean Age and included people who laid the foundations for the mythical heroes of the Trojan War, such as Agamemnon and Menelaus. It is no surprise that the oral traditions of the Iliad and the Odyssey were developed at this time, and may reflect some of these religious developments. It is also at this time that new deities entered the Hellenic scene. Female deities like Aphrodite clearly appear after the Geometric Period, suggesting they arrived in Hellas from the Levant around the 1000s to 800s BCE. The island of Cyprus was likely the intermediary, as the great Cypriot goddess worshipped there was linked to the Phoenician deity Ishtar and later moved to the Peloponnese. These religious developments are a testament to the cultural vibrancy of the Geometric Age. The 800s BCE was a time when the Geometric Marathon ended and the Archaic Pentathlon began. Archaeological finds from this century reveal an increase in settlement density and industry, with more pottery than before. This growth, possibly driven by rising mercantile demand, led to more complex economies. In some instances, the cores of village communities coalesced into the early city-states of Hellas. The colonization of Anatolia continued, bolstered by the second wave of colonization, and the Greeks expanded throughout the Mediterranean. These movements were built on the early Iron Age trade routes to Italy and North Africa, which had continued despite the upheavals of the Bronze Age. In northern Hellas, the Proto-Macedonian Kingdom formed, beginning its long journey towards royal centralization. By the start of the 700s BCE, Greece was a hodgepodge of small city-states and kingdoms. Some were still monarchies, as they likely were in Mycenaean terms. Others were aristocracies run by nobles and the landed gentry. A third type was the oligarchic republics of various mercantile notables. The direct democracies of poleis like Athens had yet to emerge, but their community structures would soon begin to grow out of the class struggle between the rich and the poor. The Greeks had been settled in Cyprus, Anatolia, and across the Mediterranean, alongside their Phoenician competitors and many local peoples. It was no longer the lush and fanciful Bronze Age, but the rugged and versatile Iron Age, and all of these changes had occurred through the fire and flames of the Geometric Period. The Geometric Age ended around 700 BCE, ushering in a new era of colonization, city-states and political intrigue in ancient Hellas. Its meander-adorned pottery changed, becoming the black and red wares of archaic Greece, and the Greeks built more centralized cities on the foundations their geometric ancestors had established. The Geometric Age was not a dark age, but rather a period of reinvention. The Greeks, pressing the same olives and grapes and producing the same oil and wine, continued to sail under the golden sun and across the wine-dark seas they always did, but they did so in new ways and with new social organizations. Greece, as it did many times before and after the 1100s BCE, rebuilt itself to suit a new world. This reinvention is based on the same bare-bones essentials the Greeks were always known for. As the Nobel-winning Greek poet Odysseus Aelitus has written, if one breaks down Hellas, they will find that what remains is an olive tree, a vine tree and a ship. What this means is that is all that is needed to rebuild Hellas once more. More videos on the mysteries of the ancient world are on the way, so make sure you're subscribed and have pressed the bell button to see them. Please consider liking, subscribing, commenting and sharing, it helps immensely. 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