Dark age and rise of 8 th century

1. Dark age and rise of 8th century Ancient Greece

2. Dark age • >1100bc – 700bc< • Devastation at fall of Bronze Age reduced the Mycenaean civilization and its palatial economy • The terminus ad quem for the dark age is the Archaic period, marked by the rise of the city-state (polis)

3. Dark age • Some locations continued (e.g. Athens) • Communities on Aegean recover within a couple generations • Technological innovation: ~1050 • Pottery (protogeometric period 1050-900) • IRON • Population shifts to the east; Aegean is the “Greek sea”

4. Dark age • Iron age reflection on the Bronze: an age of heroes • Basileus: the chieftain of a house or village (cf. Wanax) • Chieftain’s house (Lefkandi)

5. Dark age • Protogeo-metric period (1150-900) gives way to … • Geometric period (900-700)

6. Dark age • Poetry • Oral: Homer and the cycles • Instrumental accompaniment • 16000 lines of Iliad; 12000 lines of Odyssey • Details of poetics: formulaic orality • Advent of writing fossilizes formulae • Plots and major themes • What the epics can tell us about Bronze Age Greece • What the epics can tell us about Dark Age Greece

7. Dark age • “Homeric” society • Demos: space and people • Basileus • Farm and village • Demos and polis (=main town of demos) • Oikos (household): smallest unit of Dark Age society • Men and women and oikos • Marriage and paternal anxieties • Labor • Thetes

8. Dark age • “Homeric” society • Governmental institutions • Boule (council that met in megaron) • Ecclesia (assembly that met in agora) • Basileus’ role confirmed by Zeus • Foreign relations • Xenia • Social values • Agathos vs. Kakos • Time • Aristos (cf. Hesiod’s Eris – Strife)

9. Dark age • “Homeric” society • Women • Strong women in Homeric epic • Nevertheless dependent on males • Contributed to public opinion, but no political rights • Enjoy protection as members of oikos • Gods and mortals • Pantheon set by Homer and Hesiod • Theogony; Naturism; Anthropomorphism • Divine attributes; Belief; Sin and punishment; afterlife • Cultus

10. Dark age • End of the Dark age: 8th century • A Greek “renaissance”: • Rise of landowning aristocracy • Colonization • Alphabet and writing • Art and architecture • Panhellenism

11. Dark age • End of the Dark age: 8th century • Rise of landowning aristocracy • Population growth affects relative size of kleros • Another option is colonization • Colonization • Accompanied by growth of trade abroad • Alphabet and writing • Contact with the east: the (Phoenician) phonetic alphabet • Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ τ υ φ χ ψ ω

12. Dark age • End of the Dark age: 8th century • Art and architecture • Late geometric period (750-700) • Images burst onto the scene • Orientalizing elements • Monumental temples

13. Dark age • Panhellenism • Religious sanctuaries = festivals = athletics • Zeus & Hera at Olympia • Apollo & Artemis at Delos • Zeus at Dodona • Apollo at Delphi • 776: first Olympic Games • Greek sense of identity: heritage, language, religion • Cult heroes

14. Dark age • Panhellenic Games • Olympic: near Elis (Zeus: olive) • Pythian: near Delphi (Apollo: laurel) • Nemean: near Nemea (Zeus: celery) • Isthmian: near Corinth (Poseidon: pine) • Events -- Glory for the competitor; glory for the polis

15. Dark age • Legacy of the Dark age • A literature that starts a tradition • A population that grows a polis • A world around the Aegean that is common in language and religion • A civilization about to grow into the Archaic Period