Mycenaeans

The civilization of the ‘Mycenaean’ culture of mainland Greece, whose language, written in the Linear B script, was an early form of Greek.

The name “Mycenaean” comes from the site of Mycenae in the Peloponnese, the ruins of what was once a massive Bronze Age fortified palace.

The civilization of Mycenae began when in 2000 BC, the arrival of Greek speakers into the area now known as Greece and their encounter with the two non-Greek cultures that they found on their arrival, the civilizations known as Cycladic and Minoan.

The Mycenaean period in Greece lasted from 1600 to 1100 BC, the late Helladic period, which represents the height of Bronze Age Greek culture and the pinnacle of Greek culture before the onset of the Greek Dark Ages.

This period had its center in mainland Greece, where heavily fortified palaces were built. These palaces have provided archaeologists with abundant evidence of a warlike society ruled by powerful kings.

The palace of Mycenae was built to express the power of the king that ruled from it. The walls of the palace were built of massive stone blocks in a style known as Cyclopean construction, so-called because later people who viewed such ruins believed only giant creatures such as Cyclops could have built on such a scale.

The Mycenaean culture was militaristic, and war and conquest played an important part in Mycenaean life. Soldiers and military scenes are quite common in Mycenaean art.

At the end of the 12th century, the Palace was abandoned and suffered some destruction by fire as well as did the buildings in its vicinity. But the site itself was occupied without interruption until 498 BC when it was conquered by Argos and its population deported.
Mycenaeans

Greek Dark Ages

The term the Greek Dark Ages refers to the period from about 1200 to 750 BC beginning with the collapse of Mycenaean civilization and lasting to what is called the Archaic Period.

During 1150 – 900 BC, the Dorians moved into the Greek Peninsula in a series of destructive wavers and wiped out the Mycenaean ruling classes together with their entire civilization.

The era is called ‘dark’ because of its grimness – archeological evidence creates a picture of widespread destruction, depopulation and impoverishment.

The literate and artistic culture of the Mycenaeans seems to have disappeared and the population shifted from cosmopolitan palace sites into small, isolated villages.

Shortly after 850 BC the face of Greece began to change. Greeks from the island of Euboea entered into cooperative ventures with Phoenicians, which become rather elaborate by 800 BC.

By 800 BC a new urban society was formed, and during 800-600 BC, more than 100 colonies were founded, from the Black Sea, virtually a Greek lake to Marseille.
Greek Dark Ages