[Music]
in the aftermath of the bronze age
collapse
greece entered a period of cultural
decline that lasted from 1200 to 800 bc
this period is known as the greek dark
ages
with the collapse of the mycenean
administrative authorities the linear b
writing system cease to exist as a
result
there are no first-hand records of this
period the only evidence comes from
archaeological findings and the works of
greek scholars who refer to this period
400 to 600 years later although their
writings mingled legends with historical
facts
after the destruction and the
abandonment of the palaces the people
lived in villages at remote and rural
areas
as we mentioned earlier the linear b
writing system got out of use
because there was no central authority
to record the season's harvest
nor was there any trade to record
imports and exports
one of the important tasks of the palace
was the administration of farming
as this ceased to function the
devastated by land erosions and droughts
greeks had to look for other options
most returned to the activities prior to
the mycenaean and minoan civilizations
some became nomadic herders they built
temporary settlements and moved
throughout the year
in search of lands for their ship and
goats to graze on
others continued farming their fields
but in a much smaller scale than the
previous period
the population drop was massive a large
part of the mainland inhabitants
perished in the first two centuries of
this period
gradually the communities became more
original this was the result of two
reasons
the first lies in geography greece is 80
mountainous and with the population
decimated the people
formed small secluded communities with
poor communication between them
the second reason was their survival and
the smaller the community
the better this regionalism would later
give rise to the forming of the various
greek tribes and the city-states with
their own laws and customs
as it is obvious the people who face
such hardships and struggled to survive
left very few evidence of culture there
was no trade
no construction of large buildings and
no luxury goods
we can find indications of culture only
in pottery and burials
the first style of pottery produced
during this period is called sub
mycenaean
these spots are poorly formed with very
simple motifs compared to the mycenean
ones and with very few
depictions of animals or human figures
the burial process also changed the
mycenaean custom of large family vault
was replaced with new forms such as
single shaft graves
cremations and cyst graves despite the
few findings we draw the conclusion that
the greek civilization was going through
a cultural change at that time
around the 12th and 11th century bc
there was a large migration of the
dorian tribe into the peloponnese
this event is known today as the dorian
invasion
we do not actually know if this was a
quick and violent invasion or a gradual
peaceful migration of the dorians in the
region
there is no first-hand literary evidence
for the dorian invasion
only the work of the ancient greek
scholars who wrote about the event
centuries later together with some
archaeological findings
the greeks of the archaic and classical
periods viewed the dark ages and the
mycenean period
as an age of heroes as a result the
scholars combine historical events with
myths and legends
the dorian invasion is described in his
writings as the return of the heracleida
meaning the descendants of heracles
many renowned scholars recorded the
event but each of them had a different
take on it
so the story varies a lot here is a
quick summary with information taken
from the works of the ancient scholars
a large part of the dorian people
resided in the region of central greece
although the exact location is disputed
even among the scholars
the descendants of heracles were exiled
many years before from the peloponnese
by the king of mycenae and were waiting
for the right time to return
the dorians decided to help the heracles
retake their lands and together
with temenus chris fontes and the twins
proclies and jewish stannis
invaded and conquered the peloponnese
the arghalid was given to temenus
messinia was given to chris fontes and
laconia was given to the tweens
proclaimers and eures tennis the first
two kings of sparta
arcadia was the only region that was not
conquered because of the marriage
between chris fontes and the arcadian
king's daughter
the story of the invasion may be partly
made up to legitimize the rule of the
dorians over these lands
and to link their royal line to heracles
nevertheless
this story was accepted by all the
greeks despite people having different
takes on it
it is very difficult to trace invasion
through archaeological findings
since all of greece was undergoing
cultural change at that time
and there was also a lack of settlements
so far there are two theories that claim
to prove the dorian invasion
the first theory supports the the
cisgrave custom originated in the north
and this may be evidence of the
migration
of the dorians however we can trace this
custom to the early mycenaean period
so this theory is debatable the second
theory
claims that there was a new type of
pottery in the region that resembled
styles of central and northern greece as
well as pins and fibulae that were
similar to the northern ones
still these claims are questionable the
truth is that there is not much
archaeological evidence to prove the
dorian invasion
this is not strange as the dorians were
a greek tribe
and were greatly influenced by the
mycenaean civilization
thus their culture may have undergone
the same changes with the neighboring
tribes
so it would not seem much different
comparison to the other greek tribes
another fact that supports the invasion
is the distribution of the greek tribes
and their dialects on the mainland
at the end of the dark ages it should be
noted that not all dorians migrated to
the peloponnese
but a significant part of them a century
after the dorian invasion
four tribes emerged in the greek
mainland they all spoke greek
but had different dialects the dorians
spoke in the doric proper and the
northwest dialect
the aeolians spoke in the aeolic dialect
the ionians spoke in the ionic dialect
and the arcadians in the arcadian
dialects which was the dialect
closest to mycenean greek
around 1050 bc a great migration started
as each tribe began searching for new
lands in order for their people to
survive
expanding through the aegean islands and
the western asia minor coast
establishing many new settlements
the dorians populated the south asian
islands and a small part of the south
anatolian coast
a part of the akkadian people sailed to
cyprus where they established themselves
the ionians founded settlements in the
cyclades and in many northern aegean
islands along with the regions of
halkidiki
south race the north anatolian coast and
the central anatolian coast
finally the aeolians established
themselves in the island of lesbos and
the neighboring asia minor coast
this migration developed gradually over
the course of 150 years
when the migrations finally halted the
population started to rise slowly with
new settlements appearing on the
mainland
a new style of pottery originating in
athens spread in many parts of the greek
mainland
this style is called proto-geometric and
it was a great evolvement of the art of
pottery
around that time a new type of metal was
introduced
iron iron was much easier to acquire
compared to bronze which was out of use
due to the lack of trade people started
using iron rapidly making weapons and
agricultural tools
by 900 bc most of the weapons were made
with iron
although the shield continued to be made
with bronze
it is at lefkandi a town in the island
of eurea that will trace the resurgence
of trade between the greeks and the near
east
particularly with the phoenicians and
thus the greeks would rise from the
ashes of the dark ages ascending into a
new era of cultural
economic and political revival