The Iron Age

Greece

Following the collapse of the Bronze Age civilisation of Mycenae (c.1100 B.C.) and the destruction of palaces and cities, the Hellenic peninsula and islands was ravaged by famine, leading to depopulation. Amongst the political instability, raiding of coastal settlements from the sea became commonplace. Education and writing ceased and vital trade links were lost, while towns and villages were abandoned. Greece became isolated and backward for three centuries.

For a century prior to the collapse, Arcadian and Achaean peoples had already settled in the central Peloponnese; occupying Mycenae, they used the coast as a base for raiding Crete, Anatolia and the Levant. Ionians occupied Attica and Euboea, while the Boeotians settled in central Greece. The Thracians seized the north coast of the Aegean. Aeolians spread throughout the islands of the Aegean, notably Lesbos and Chios. Far to the north, the Illyrians occupied the east coast of the Adriatic. The greatest of these people were the Dorians, who were a backward warlike people who had first settled in Epirus. Between 1100-1000 B.C., the Dorians spread outwards to the south, diplacing peoples in the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Megara and the Argolid. The most powerful Dorian tribe would settle in Lacedaemon and Laconia, where they would later become the Spartans. From these places they built ships and raided Crete, Cos, Rhodes and Cyprus, destroying as they went and settling the lands with their own numbers. The many tribes, each occupying a small valley, plain or coastal part of the Greek peninsula, would dispute one another over territory ceaselessly for the next eight hundred years.

Aristocracy & Colonisation

By 900 B.C., monarchies were increasingly replaced throughout Greece by aristocracies, as kings vanished or were reduced to a titular office (save in Sparta). The nobles became the dominant power in the state through the possession of iron weapons and the acquisition of property, at the expense of poorer farmers. This led to renewed food shortages and distress, so that after 800 B.C., colonisation — encouraged first by the aristocrats to get rid of discontent — by Greek city states scattered Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean. Important colonies were founded in along the Anatolian coast, in Libya, on the Nile (Naucratis, 640 B.C.), and even on the Gaulish and Iberian coasts, and along the northern shore of the Black Sea. Trade from these colonies reunited the Mediterranean, while at home there grew a culture surrounding myths and legends voiced by bards such as Homer (c.750-800 B.C.).

The import of luxury goods (oils, wine, ivories, gold and silver) encouraged greater skill in technological processes like metallurgy and pottery; this enabled the Greeks to compete favorably with the Phoenicians and encouraged the growth of a cultivated, educated populace. Slavery increased and coinage was introduced from Lydia; minting by individual city states also became a competitive practice. Lyric poetry flourished; geometric art was replaced by the oriental, or animal style. Philosophy began with the Milesian School: Thales, Anaximenes and Anaximander investigated mathematics and expanded an understanding of logic.

The Early Peloponnese

By 800 B.C., Sparta had consolidated its control over the central peninsula and had colonized the coast of Messenia. She warred with Teges, chief city of the backward and disunited Arcadians, who maintained a loose religious union centering about the primitive worship on Mt. Lycaeum. Corinth had become commercially important and, until 720, dominated its smaller neighbour Megara. Argos, though claiming the hegemony of Greece as heir of Mycenae, remained a weak state.

In the First Messenian War (736-716 B.C.), Sparta, led by King Theopompus, conquered Messenia and divided the rich plain into lots, which the Messenians, as helots (serfs), worked for their Spartan masters. Besides helots and Spartans, there was a third class of Laconians, the periocci, who were free but not possessed of citizen rights. Sparta still, however, had an artistic and intellectual life equal to any in Greece, especially in respect to choral poetry.

King Pheidon of Argos (c.680 B.C.) made Argos powerful, for a brief time. He defeated the coalition of Sparta and Tegea in the battle of Hysiae (669) and, in support of rebellious Aegina, crushed Epidaurus and her ally Athens. Pheidon introduced coinage into Greece with a mint at Aegina. After his death, the powers held by rulers was curtailed. The city-state of Argos declined.

During the Second Messenian War, Sparta — with difficulty — crushed her rebellious subjects, who were led by Aristomenes, master of Arcandia, who afterwards took refuge on Mt. Eira. By the so-called Eunomia, the Spartans, fearing further revolts, completely reorganized the state to make it more severely military.

Rise of Tyranny

By 650 B.C., the aristocracies felt the pressure of landless traders and artisans, who wished a say in their political futures. To maintain their authority, and supported by the rich, various tyrants arose; in some cases, ambitious individuals, bent on overthrowing their masters, organized rebellions and installed themselves as tyrants also. On the whole, these tyrants were successful with the population, as they kept the people happy with festivals and public works. Nevertheless, the power of the nobility diminished, class and racial distinctions were abolished and many city states moved towards a more democratic model of government. Important tyrants included Theagenes of Megara (640 B.C.), Thrasybulus of Miletus (620); and Cleistenes of Sicyon (600).

Phrygia & Lydia

The Phrygians (as well as the Mysians) occupied a minor vassal state of the Hittites, in central Anatolia upon the Sakarya River. The capital was located at Gordium, that was founded by King Gordius (c.1250 B.C.). Gordius' son, Midas, is remembered in mythology for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold. They participated on the side of Troy in the Trojan War; King Priam of Troy married a Phrygian princess, Hecuba. With the collapse of the Hittite Empire, the Phrygians established their independence (c.1175 B.C.). The kingdom, acting as a barrier between Greece and the east, would steadily expand, reaching its height in the 8th century B.C.. By this time, it would dominate most of central and western Anatolia. The Phrygians developed a system of writing, maintained close trade with the Greeks and produced a distinctive pottery called Polished Ware. The chief deities of the Phrygians were Cybele (the Great Mother riding in a chariot drawn by lions), whose orgiastic cult would long outlive the kingdom; and Attis, the god who died by castration but came back to life; his priests, Galli, were eunuchs.

However, the kingdom was overwhelmed by the Cimmerians, a nomadic people from the north, related culturally to the Scythians. In 714 B.C., the Cimmerians invaded the Assyrian state of Urartu; following a defeat by the Assyrians under Sargon II in 705, they turned west and completed the conquest of Phrygia by 696-695 B.C..

Lydia had also been a vassal of the Hittites, achieving its independence in 1192 B.C.. Located between Phrygia in the east and the Aegean, Lydia became a link between east and west, culturally and commercially. The Lydians were great merchants and expert craftsmen; they reinvented coinage as an alternative to the use of precious metals for exchange and were fond of horsemanship. Later, they contributed to the development of music and the dance. The writer Aesop was a Lydian. They worshipped the gods Santas and Bacchus. The capital was Sardis.

Lydia was ruled by 22 successive generations of the Heraclid Dynasty; the last, Candaules, was assassinated (687 B.C.) and succeeded by his former friend Gyges, founder of the Myrmnadae Dynasty. Gyges would form an alliance with the Assyrians, defeat the Cimmerians (685 B.C.) and extend the borders of Lydia. But after sending Carian and Ionian mercenaries to the aid of Psamtik, who drove the Assyrians out of Egypt, the Cimmerians invaded Lydia. Gyges fell in battle against them in 652, after which Sardis was razed. His son, Ardys, would wage an ongoing war with the Cimmerians, who occupied the former lands of Phrygia and eastern Lydia, for 33 years. After the Cimmerians were defeated by the Assyrians in the 620s B.C., Ardy's annihilated them in 619. Nothing else would be heard of the Cimmerians afterwards. Between 619 and Ardys death in 603, the Lydians would occupy Phrygia and carry forth a conquest of Greek cities (begun by Gyges) on the Anatolian coast.