Ancient Greece Blog Post

Ancient Greece Blog Post

The History of Greece started no later back to Stone Age hunters. Later early farmers came and the civilizations of the Minoan and Mycenaean kings. This was followed by the Dark Ages, where wars occurred and Population shrank. While the Population was shrinking so was the decline of production of food.   This causes a further decline in the population and more and more people were dying because of the loss of food and war.

The Neolithic period lasted from 6800 to 3200 BC. Many people traveled from domesticated settlements in Near East of Greece because of overpopulation. The people that went to travel discovered pottery and animal husbandry in Greece. The Neolithic people were said to be the first farmers and their lives weren’t has complex and simple. Many people were very creative pottery designers, especially the ones located from the sites at Sesklo.

The Early Bronze age started around 2800 BC and lasted until 1050 BC. The Bronze Age is mainly known for the invention and introduction to metal bronze. The settlements of the Early Bronze Age lived on hills or on low plains, which were close to water. The next Age was called the Mycenaean Age which started at 600 BC to 1100 BC (I’m skipping to important Ages). This Age was a period of high cultural achievement.

This culture was based around the cities in Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, Athens, Thebes, Orchomenos, and Folksier. The Mycenaean were bold traders and maintained contact with other countries from the Mediterranean and Europe. They were excellent engineers and built outstanding bridges, tombs, residences and palaces.

The Dark Ages occurred in 1100 to 750 BC. This was the period in when the Myceneans went through a period of civil war. This caused death and food decline with the Mycenaeans. Since the food declined, people died of starvations, and since the war was occurring people died from that aswell.

The Archaic period was from the year 620 to 480 BC.  This age is defined by the development of art at this time, specifically through pottery and sculptures. The Next Age, or to be more specific period, is the Classical period. This was the period of the death of the Macodonian king and Alexander the Great in 323 BC. This was also the period that Athens reached its greatest political and cultural heights. The Final Period was called the Hellenistic Period from 336 to 146 BC. This was the period in which the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great as well as the establishment of Roman supremacy.

Society has changed a lot from this time, especially during the Dark Age. We sort of still have a Dark Age but it has more to do with food then with war. It surprised me on how Greece may have been the first people to invent pottery. It didn’t shock me that they had a Dark age, because almost every society has a Dark Age. Well I would look at Greece as the one Country that had a very successful conqueror/King and that they invented pottery.

"Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander." Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander, The Early Greek Dark Age and Revival in the Near East, The Poverty of the Early Greek Dark Age. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

"Minoan Art." Ancient Greece. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.