The Ancient Greeks divided themselves into three tribes; the Aeolians, Ionians, and Dorians. The Mycenaeans (referred to as Argives, Achaeans, and Danaans by Homer in the Iliad) were Aeolians and Ionians. Sometime around 1100 BCE, the Dorians, who lived north of the other two tribes, began to raid the Mycenaeans. Entire cities were destroyed, and Mycenae itself fell and was plundered by the invaders. Not only were the citadels of Mycenaean Greece destroyed, but civilization itself would collapse in the region.
The Dorians: Around 1200 BCE, a new group, the Dorians, came down from the north. The early tribes who lived on the Greek peninsula never really had a chance to beat the Dorians. These early people had stone weapons. The Dorians had iron weapons.
Historians and archaeologists have found written records left by the early tribes on the Greek peninsula that tell how they tried to save their women and children by moving them from one town to another, and how they stockpiled war material in preparation for the next battle with the Dorians.
The Mycenaeans were great warriors, but the Dorians had iron weapons. The Mycenaeans really did not have a chance against such superior equipment. Around 1200 BCE, all written records stop because the Dorians had won. All written records stopped for about the next 400 years. For the next 400 years, Greece fell into a dark age.
The Dorians had no written language. They did not paint pictures of their life on vases and pottery. The 400 years that the Dorian people ruled ancient Greece is called the Grecian dark ages. A dark age is time a period of time in history that we usually know very little about because people did not write things down. But the Greek dark age was different. We know quite a lot about this period of time because of the storytellers.
Trojan War: 1194–1184 BC, which roughly corresponds with archaeological evidence of a catastrophic burning of Troy VIIa.
Helen of Troy was the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris went to Sparta, where he was a guest at king Menelaus' court. When the king had to leave for Crateus' funeral, Helen had to take care of the guests. Paris managed to seduce Helen with his beauty and with rich gifts and took her away with him .When they arrived in Troy, Helen was received by Priamus and Hecabe, who were amazed by her beauty. Soon, Menelaus went to ask her back, but Paris refused.After the Greek dark ages, exciting things began to happen in ancient Greece. Villages started to band together to form strong trading centers. These groups of villages that banded together were called city-states. Soon, hundreds of city-states had formed in ancient Greece.
TO BE CITIZEN OF A CITY-STATE: The ancient Greeks referred to themselves as citizens of their individual city-states. Each city-state (polis) had its own personality, goals, laws and customs. Ancient Greeks were very loyal to their city-state.
The city-states had many things in common. They all believed in the same gods. They all spoke the same language.
But if you asked an ancient Greek where he was from, he would not say, "I live in Greece." If he was from Sparta, he would say, "I am a Spartan." If he lived in Athens, he would say, "I am Athenian." The city-states might band together to fight a common foe. They also went to war with each other. Greece was not yet one country. Ancient Greece was a collection of Greek city-states.
Because Greece was not yet one country, there was no central government in ancient Greece.
Each city-state had its Own form of governement Some city-states, like Corinth, were ruled by kings. Some, like Sparta, were ruled by a small group of men. Others, like Athens, experimented with new forms of government. Sometimes these city-states cooperated, sometimes they fought each other.
Archaic Greece
By around 1000 BC the Greeks were starting to rebuild their civilization after the Dark Ages. There seem to have been more people around, and enough gold to pay for building new buildings. The Greeks did not rebuild the kings' palaces, though, because most Greek cities did not have kings anymore. Most cities were ruled by a group of rich men called aristocrats. This kind of government is called an oligarchy (OLL-ih-gark-ee). Instead, the Greeks built temples to the gods where the old palaces had been, mostly on top of hills.
The Greeks (especially Corinth) also began to trade with West Asia again, especially with the Phoenicians. They learned the alphabet from the Phoenicians around 750 BC, and that is how Homer was able to write down the stories about the Trojan War. The Greeks also learned about art from Western Asia. The Greeks also began to take jobs as mercenaries (soldiers working for other people) again, in Egypt and also in Lydia (Turkey).
Around 650 BC there were two new ways of doing things which seem to have started in Greece instead of being learned from other people. We are not sure which came first, or whether one caused the other. One was a new way of fighting wars. The old way was rather disorganized: all the men on one side would just run at the men on the other side, yelling their heads off, and then they would fight until one side ran away or were all killed. In the new way, men lined up side by side, and each man used his shield to protect the man next to him, so that there was a wall of shields.
The other new idea was for a new kind of government. Some of the Greek cities still had kings (Sparta for instance), but most of them were ruled by groups of aristocrats. These aristocrats were often fighting with each other over who would have the most power. Some of them tried to get other aristocrats on their side. But now one of these aristocrats had the idea to try to get the poor people on his side, too. That was pretty easy to do, because nobody had been paying any attention to these poor people at all. So this aristocrat was able to get more power than his friends and he was in charge of the city. Instead of being called the king, he was called the tyrant. The earliest tyrants (that we know of ) were in Corinth. Soon other aristocrats in other Greek cities (and in West Asia) copied this idea.
By 550 BC many cities were still ruled by aristocrats, especially the ones where Dorians lived, but many others were ruled by tyrants, especially the ones where Ionians lived, like Athens. Other aristocrats hated the tyrants, but a lot of poor people loved them. Most of the tyrants did a good job. They protected the poor people from the rich aristocrats, they built a lot of new buildings, and they helped people to trade with West Asia and the other nearby places.
Classical Greece
In 510 BC a man named Cleisthenes (KLICE-then-eez), who was an aristocrat (a rich, powerful man) in Athens, invented another new type of government, the democracy. Cleisthenes, like other aristocrats, wanted to get more power. But tyrants had gotten unpopular in Athens. Cleisthenes decided to give even more power to poor people. He organized a new way of making political decisions. Every Athenian man would have one vote, and they would all meet and vote on what to do. The big meeting was called the Assembly.
But all the men couldn't meet every day; they had to work. So there was also a smaller council of 500 men, who were chosen by a lottery, and changed every year. Seems like Cleisthenes AND the other aristocrats would be out of power? But he arranged the voting so that his family, the Alcmaeonids (alk-MEE-oh-nids), would have more votes than anyone else. 
In 490 BC the Persians attacked Athens. Everybody was very frightened, because the Persians were great fighters. Some people thought Athens should go back to the old system of government, the oligarchy, in case democracy didn't work well enough. They thought it would take too long to make decisions in a democracy. But they didn't go back.
In 480 BC the Persians, with their king Xerxes (ZERK-sees) attacked again. This time most of the cities in Greece banded together and formed a league to fight the Persians. They lost their first battle, at Thermopylae (therm-AH-pill-aye), but they won after that, at Salamis and again at Plataea (plah-TAY-ah). Again the Persians went home defeated. (More on the Persian Wars). The other cities in Greece were angry. They asked the Spartans to help stop the Athenians. Some cities took sides with Athens, others with Sparta. There was a big war, from 431 BC to 404 BC (almost thirty years!). This is called the Peloponnesian War. But finally, with the help of the Persians, the Spartans won and the Athenians lost. (more on the Peloponnesian War). By this time, all of Greece had pretty much been wrecked, and the Classical period was over.
The temple of Hekatompeden was the first monumental temple built on the Acropolis and it stood on the same ground where the Parthenon stands today. During the early years of democracy, two major projects were started, one being a gateway through the Acropolis and the other being the old Parthenon,built for the goddess Athena. This temple sat in the place of the Hekatompeden. The old Parthenon was built around the time that the Athenians beat the Persians at Marathon during the first Persian war in 490 BC. Ten years later, during the second Persian war, the old Parthenon was still unfinished. When the Persians attacked, the Athenians found shelter on an island called Salamis while the Persians destroyed everything on the Acropolis including the Parthenon. The Athenians took the Oath of Plataia, which said that the Athenians would never rebuild their precious temples as a constant reminder that the Persians burned their city. The Athenians then built the Delian league or the Athenian Empire where they collected money from other city-states to build a strong army to protect everyone from the Persians. Around 440 BC Athens became very rich from the money she collected and was able to rebuild the Parthenon. This new building was the built using the untouched ruins as part of its structure. It also used some of the columns and metopes that were going to be used for the old Parthenon. Some people think that Athens built the Parthenon to show the Persians that they weren't scared of them any longer as well as to put themselves above the other Greek cities.
The Parthenon was built under PericlesÕ power and designed by the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates. The design of the Periclean Parthenon was greatly influenced by the older Parthenon. Looking at a plan of both the older and the newer Parthenons you can see very clear aspects that are similar and different between the two. The location and general size are very similar along with the basic arrangement of the plan and elevation. Some differences are an enlarged platform and added columns. One extra column is added on the sides while two are added on both ends. Part of the reason they increased the size is so it could house the huge gold and ivory statue of Athena. There were aisles around the interior of the cella so the privileged could walk all the way around this statue.
Hellenistic Greece
After the Peloponnesian War was over, all the cities of Greece were worn out and poor. Many men went and fought for the Persians for money. But others tried to rebuild the cities. This was the time of Socrates and his student Plato, the great philosophe
But to the north of Greece, in a country called Macedon (MA-suh-donn), King Philip had noticed that the Greeks were very weak. He attacked the Greek city-states and one by one he took them over. When Philip was assassinated in 336 BC, his son Alexander became king, and he also ruled Greece. Alexander was only 20 when he became king. At first a lot of people thought he was too young. But he not only held onto Greece, he also took a big army of Greeks and Macedonians and attacked the Persian Empire!
Alexander was a great general, and the Persians were also weak at this time. So, little by little, Alexander took over the Persian Empire: first Turkey, then Phoenicia, then Israel, then Egypt, then further east all the way to Afghanistan and India (see map). In India Alexander's troops refused to go any further, and he turned back. But a lot of the soldiers died on the way back, and soon afterwards, in 323 BC, Alexander himself died of a fever, in Babylon. He was 33 years old.
Roman Greece
By 275 BC, the Romans in Italy (see map) were beginning to expand out of Italy and conquer other parts of the Mediterranean. They started with Sicily, an island near Italy. The Romans were fighting the Carthaginians. Some of the Greeks decided to help the Carthaginians fight the Romans, because the Greeks were afraid of the Romans. But the Carthaginians lost. The Romans were very angry at the Greeks, and they began to take Greece over as well.
At first the Romans pretended to let Greece be independent, but by 146 BC the Romans destroyed Corinth and made Greece into a province of the Roman Empire.
Greece did well under Roman rule, even though the Greeks were not very happy about it. Archaeology shows that the Greeks built many new houses and buildings. They were able to sail and trade peacefully all over the Mediterranean Sea, because the Romans ruled it all. The Romans ruled Greece for hundreds of years.
The Romans thought Greek plays and Greek philosophy were very interesting, and many Greeks went to Rome as teachers and entertainers. Many Romans came to Athens to go to the great colleges there, Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum.
Around 200 AD, though, Germanic people began to invade Greece from the north, and the Roman army couldn't always stop them. At first these Germans didn't come very often, but by 400 AD they came more often, and Greece became poorer again. As the Germans conquered the western half of the Roman Empire, Greece came to be ruled by Constantinople.
The Byzantine Empire: began to look less like the Roman Empire as the years passed. The empire covered Greece, the Balkans, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. By the seventh century, Greek had completely replaced Latin as the language of the empire. The Byzantine emperors still thought of themselves as the successors of Caesar Augustus, but over the years Roman influence gradually disappeared.
It didn't take long for the Germans and Goths to realize that the new young emperors were weak and so this was a good time to attack. Roman generals also saw this weakness and revolted.
First, Constantine III, a general in England, declared himself emperor at York in 405 AD. He took all the Roman troops out of England, across the English Channel to France, and he marched his army through France, collecting the French troops so they could all march on Rome.
First, Constantine III, a general in England, declared himself emperor at York in 405 AD. He took all the Roman troops out of England, across the English Channel to France, and he marched his army through France, collecting the French troops so they could all march on Rome.
But while Constantine III was doing this, nobody was watching the border. In January 409 AD, a lot of Alans, Vandals, and Sueves crossed the Rhine (which was frozen solid) and came into the Roman Empire. There were no troops there to stop them, so they just travelled around France taking whatever they wanted. Both women and men came, and they brought their children, so they seem to have meant to stay.
Meanwhile Constantine III was trying to take over Spain. He sent his general Gerontius to Spain, but then Gerontius decided to make himself Emperor instead of working for Constantine III. In order to get a good-sized army together, Gerontius seems to have agreed to let the Alans, Vandals, and Sueves into Spain, and they promised to help him out.
Then the Roman government sent out a general to stop Constantine III. Constantine III was killed, and so was Gerontius. All of their soldiers (the ones from England and the ones from France, and maybe the ones from Spain too) were taken back to Italy to deal with the Visigoths. This left England, France, and Spain pretty much open for Germans to take over.
Then the Roman government sent out a general to stop Constantine III. Constantine III was killed, and so was Gerontius. All of their soldiers (the ones from England and the ones from France, and maybe the ones from Spain too) were taken back to Italy to deal with the Visigoths. This left England, France, and Spain pretty much open for Germans to take over.
Back in Italy, the Visigoths were attacking. The Visigoths had been living inside the Roman Empire since the battle of Adrianople in 378 AD. But they had not been treated very well: the Romans had kept them from getting food or building decent houses. Under their new king, Alaric (AL-arr-ick), the Visigoths demanded gold from Honorius. When he said no, the Visigoths marched on Rome. Despite the gathering of soldiers to fight them, the Visigoths not only got to Rome but in 410 AD they took the city and sacked it (they wrecked things, killed people, and took what they wanted).
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire which occurred after a siege laid by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Sultan Mehmed II. The siege lasted from Friday, 6 April 1453 until Tuesday, 29 May 1453 (according to the Julian Calendar), when the city was conquered by the Ottomans. Constantinople was defended by the army of Emperor Constantine XI. The event marked the end of the political independence of the millennium-old Byzantine Empire, which was by then already fragmented into several Greek monarchies.The Ottomans ruled Greece until the early 19th century. On March 25, 1821
