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IRON AGE GREECE

Dark    Age Ceramic Ware

The Invention   of  the Alphabet

The Age of  Expansion

The Polis

The Olympic Games

The collapse of Mycenaean civilization was followed by a period of gradual recovery during what is
known as the “Dark Age” (ca. 1200 to the eighth century BC). This recovery can be traced most reliably
through an examination of the copious remains of ceramic pottery, from which we can see evidence of
slowly improving technology and artistic skill. In addition, the locations in which Greek pottery is found
allow us to trace its distribution and circulation, which by the eighth century BC extended once again
throughout the Mediterranean world. Contact through trade led the Greeks to adopt and adapt a number of
practices from other cultures; most significantly, the Greeks’ invention of the alphabet resulted from their
exposure to the Phoenician system of syllabic writing. Increasing prosperity and expanding commerce
within the Mediterranean gave rise to a period of overseas expansion, beginning in the eighth century BC,
which saw the establishment of permanent Greek communities along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea
and the Black Sea, from the Ukraine to Spain. These communities took the characteristic form that
developed among the Greeks during the Dark Age, namely the polis, a self-governing territory consisting
of an urban center with a surrounding agricultural area. The diffusion of Greek culture throughout the
Mediterranean area encouraged those Greeks who found themselves widely separated from their
traditional homeland to define themselves conspicuously in terms of their shared culture. One prominent
feature of this shared culture was the worship of a common pantheon of gods, headed by Olympian Zeus,
whose festival at the mainland site of Olympia, the Olympic games, became a focus and a hallmark of
Greek identity, since participation in the games was restricted to citizens of Greek poleis.

The Dark    Age that    followed    the collapse    of  the Mycenaean   administrative  structure   presented

the Greeks with an opportunity, indeed, the necessity, to reinvent themselves. We know much less than we
would like concerning the details of life during the Greek Dark Age, but we do know that this period,
from the twelfth until the eighth century BC, was somehow decisive for the formation of Archaic and
Classical Greek culture. The sharp decrease in numbers of inhabitants during this period throughout
mainland Greece and the Aegean islands resulted in a population that lived in generally small, isolated
settlements. This is in marked contrast to the thriving, palace-based communities that were the focus of a
vigorous economy and an extensive network of trade during the Minoan and Mycenaean Periods. One of
the results of decreased prosperity and diminished trade was a reduction in the supply of tin, a metal not
found in the Aegean area. Tin is an essential component of bronze, an alloy whose main ingredient,
copper, is available in Greece. Bronze was widely used during the Mycenaean Period for tools and
weapons. As a result of the diminished supply of tin, the skill of Greek metalworkers was considerably