this last fact he concluded that the long-dead inhabitants of
these structures were confi dent in their security, and he spec-
ulated that such security must have come from a solid mili-
tar y command of the sea. Th ese speculations led him to think
of the legendary king Minos, who was said to have ruled the
Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean, and he named the
civilization he uncovered “Minoan.” We know very little of
this period apart from what archaeology can tell us, but we
know that these palaces had a complex bureaucracy and great
wealth.
Archaeologists have also uncovered the remains of an
“empire” on the southern mainland of Greece, dating to the
second millennium b.c.e. Marked by immense, strongly for-
tifi ed pa laces, t his civ i lizat ion is k now n as “Mycenaea n,” a ft er
Mycenae, one of the principal settlements of the period. My-
cenae was also the home of Agamemnon, the mythological
king who, according to the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey, was
the chief basileus, or “king,” of all the Greek kings who went
to war against Troy. Historians are quick to point out that
Homeric poetry is not history and that there is no archaeo-
logical evidence that Agamemnon was a historical fi gure.
Still, mythology, poetry, and archaeology tend to sup-
port each other on broad points: Th e cities mentioned in the
Iliad and Odyssey were major settlements during the Myce-
naean Period (1600–1100 b.c.e.); the king of Mycenae claims
supremacy in the Iliad and Odyssey; and the network of roads
between Bronze Age settlements in southern Greece seem to
converge on Mycenae. It is therefore reasonable to assume
that Mycenae was politically central and thus perhaps the
center of something we can call an empire.
Th e palace at Mycenae was destroyed by forces unknown
around 1150 b.c.e. During the next few centuries the Greek
world entered a “dark age,” so called because of the modesty
of the archaeological remains and the lack of written sources.
Between 750 and 700 b.c.e. the Greeks adapted the Phoeni-
cian alphabet for their own use, and the historical period
began. Th e archaeology of this period and accounts of oral
traditions written centuries later point to an empire of sorts
during the dark ages. Around 800 b.c.e. Greeks from Euboea,
the long island that runs along the east coast of the Greek
mainland, founded a trading colony at Al Mina, in what is
now Syria. Later in the eighth century b.c.e. they founded
another colony near the Bay of Naples. During this period
widespread fi nds of Euboean pottery throughout the Medi-
terranean suggest that the Euboean cities of Khalkís and Er-
etria were signifi cant economic powers, and later accounts of
a war between the two—the so-called Lelantine War that in-
volved many other Greek cities—would suggest political and
military power as well. But the Lelantine War seems to have
brought an end to Euboean power, and Euboea ceased to be a
political force aft er around 680 b.c.e.
TYRANTS
In 776 b.c.e. the fi rst Olympic Games were held in the Pelo-
ponnese, in southern Greece. Th is marks a clear beginning
of a consciousness among Greek speakers that despite their
political disunity they were in some sense a single people.
Th e eighth through sixth centuries b.c.e. were the so-called
Archaic Period of Greece, and during this period many city-
states underwent political revolutions. At Corinth, Sicyon,
Megara, Miletus, Mytilene, Sámos, and fi nally Athens, the
rule of aristocratic families was overthrown, to be replaced
by rule by tyrants.
According to the philosopher Aristotle, who wrote on
political systems in the fourth century b.c.e., tyranny in
Greece was a step away from monarchy and aristocracy and
toward democracy. Th e common people of a city, unhappy
with their aristocratic rulers, would choose a “champion” and
give him (they were always men) absolute authority; this new
tyrannos (the Greek word that gives us “tyrant”) would enact
economic and social reforms.
An example of this trend was the establishment of tyr-
anny at Corinth around 650 b.c.e. Th is city had long been
ruled by the aristocratic family of the Bacchidae. Cypselus (r.
ca. 657–627 b.c.e.) himself was the son of a Bacchiad woman,
Labda. When the common people of Corinth revolted against
the perceived injustice of Bacchiad rule, Cypselus emerged as
their champion. Ancient sources diff er on the nature of his
rule, with some saying that he was bloodthirsty but others
noting that he never employed bodyguards, which would in-
dicate that he enjoyed popular support. Like many tyrants,
he founded a dynasty, with his son Periander (r. 627–586
b.c.e.) following him in rule. As was oft en the case, the sec-
ond generation of a tyrannical dynasty was less benign, and
ancient sources universally describe Periander’s rule as one of
violence and oppression. Periander passed the tyranny to his
son Psammetichus, who called himself Cypselus II. Th is man
was murdered, bringing an end to tyranny and ushering in a
period of constitutional government with many democratic
features.
At Athens tyranny came later, at the end of the sixth cen-
tury b.c.e., aft er at least two close calls earlier. In 632 b.c.e.
a man named Cylon attempted to set himself up as tyrant
aft er winning fame at the Olympic Games. His eff orts were
thwarted by members of the aristocratic family of the Alcmae-
onidae, and Cylon was murdered in a temple—a scandalous
violation of religious laws that would haunt the Alcmaeonidae
for centuries. Around 594 b.c.e. a period of confl ict between
the aristocrats and the common citizens could easily have led
to tyranny, following the pattern at Corinth. But in this case
both sides of the dispute agreed to allow Solon (ca. 630–ca.
560 b.c.e.), a prominent Athenian, to reform the constitution
along more equitable, if not fully democratic, principles.
Th en, in 546 b.c.e., Peisistratus established himself as
tyrant in Athens by “taking the people into his party,” ac-
cording to Aristotle, and disarming the aristocrats. As with
Cypselus, ancient writers disagree on the nature of Peisistra-
tus’s reign, but Aristotle states that he ruled according to the
laws. Peisistratus also entertained dynastic ambitions, leaving
power to his sons Hippias and Hipparchus. Th ese men, like410 empires and dynasties: Greece