Untitled Essay, Research Paper

Greece

The Greek peninsula has been culturally linked with the Aegean Islands, and

the west coast of Asia Minor since the Neolithic Age. The numerous natural

harbors and close-lying islands lead to a unified, maritime civilization.

However cultural unity did not produce political unity. Mountain ranges and

deep valleys separated the peninsula into small economic and political units.

Constant feuding between cities and surrounding empires for political power

made Greece the sight of many battles.

Prehistoric Period

Archeological evidence shows that a primitive Mediterranean people, closely

related to races of northern Africa, lived in the southern Aegean area as

far back as the Neolithic Age.

A cultural progression from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age started about

3000 BC. This civilization, during the Bronze Age was divided into two main

cultures. One on these, called Cretan or Minoan was centered on the island

of Crete. The other culture, Helladic (who became Mycenaean) populated mainland

Greece. The Minoan culture dominated trade until 1500 BC when the Mycenaeans

took control.

During the third millennium BC a series of invasions from the north began.

The most prominent of the early invaders, who were called the Achaeans, had,

in all probability, been forced to migrate by other invaders. They overran

southern Greece and established themselves on the Peloponnesus. Many other,

vaguely defined tribes, were assimilated in the Helladic culture.

Ancient Greece

Gradually, in the last period of Bronze Age Greece, the Minoan civilization

fused with the mainland. By 1400 BC the Achaeans were in possession of the

island itself, and soon afterward gained control of the mainland. The Trojan

War, described by Homer in the Iliad, began about 1200 BC and was probably

one of a series of wars waged during the 12th and 13th centuries BC. It may

have been connected with the last and most important of the invasions which

happened at about the same time and brought the Iron Age to Greece. The Dorians

left the mountains of Epirus and pushed their way down to Peloponnesus and

Crete, using iron weapons to conquer the people of those regions. The Invading

Dorians overthrew Achaean kings and settled in the southern and eastern part

of the peninsula.

The Hellenic Period

After the great migrations in the Aegean, the Greek developed a proud racial

consciousness. They Called themselves Hellenes. The term Greeks, used by

foreign peoples, was derived from Graecia, the Latin for a small Hellenic

tribe of Epirus, the first Hellenes that the Romans had dealings with. Out

of the mythology that became the basis of an intricate religion, the Hellenes

developed a genealogy that traced their ancestry to semidivine heroes.

Age of Tyrants

The age of Greek tyrants was notable for advances made in Hellenic civilization.

The title of tyrant was used on people who had gained political power illegally.

Generally the tyrants were wise and popular. Trade and industry flourished.

In the wake of political and economic strength came a flowering of Hellenic

culture, especially in Ionia, where Greek philosophy began with the speculations

of Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenies. The development of cultural pursuits

common to all the Hellenic cities was one of the factors that united ancient

Greece. Another Factor was the Greek language, the many dialects of which

were readily understandable in any part of the country. The third factor

was Greek religion, which held the Hellenes together, and the sanctuary of

Delphi, with its oracle, became the greatest national shrine. In addition

to their religion, the Greeks held four national festivals, called

games—the Olympian, Isthmian, Pythian, and Nemean.

Monarchy to Democracy

Some unification of the city-states took place. Between the 8th and 6th centuries

BC, Athens and Sparta became the two dominant cities of Greece. Each of these

great states united its weaker neighbors into a league or confederacy under

its control. Sparta, a completely militarized and aristocratic state, established

its leadership mainly by conquest, and kept its subject states under strict

rule. The unification of Attica was, however, carried on by mutual and peaceful

agreement under the leadership of Athens, and the inhabitants of smaller

cities were given Athenian citizenship. The hereditary kingship of Athens

was abolished in 683 BC by the nobles, or Eupatridae, who ruled Athens until

the mid 6th century BC. The Eupatridae kept complete authority by their supreme

power to dispense justice. In 621 BC statesman Draco codified and published

the Athenian law, their by limiting the judiciary power of the nobles. A

second major blow to the hereditary power of the Eupatride was the code of

the Athenian statesman and legislator Solon in 594 BC, which reformed the

Draconian code and gave citizenship to the lower classes. During the rule

of the tyrant Pisistratus, the forms of government began to take on the elements

of democracy. Hippias and Hipparchus, sons of Pisistratus, inherited their

fathers power, but they were considerably more despicable. Hippias, who survived

Hipparchus, was expelled by a popular uprising in 510 BC. In the resulting

political strife, the supporters of democracy, under the statesman Cleisthenes,

won a complete victory, and a new constitution, based on democratic principles,

took effect about 502 BC. The beginning of democratic rule was the dawn of

the greatest period of Athenian history and, to me personally this signifies

the end of Ancient Greece.