WEEK 2: THE GREEK "DARK AGES" (1/23)
"For now truly is a race of iron, and men never rest from labor and sorrow by day, and from perishing by night; and the gods lay sore troubles upon them." - Hesiod, Works and Days, 176-178
Surviving the Fall of Mycenaean Civilization (ca. 1100-750 BC)
what remained? Athens
other settlements: Nichoria, Lefkandi, Corinth, Ascra
Effects of the Fall of Mycenae
economic
population decline
international
Dark Age Society and Government
the basileus - a "big man" theory of government
aristocrats and their values
the burials at Lefkandi on Euboea: Toumba, plan, female burial, horse burial
a sense of community: the evidence of cemeteries (Lefkandi, the Kerameikos)
Signs of Life
ca. 900 BC - changes in population and technological development
trade and Euboea, the Phoenicians
776 BC - traditional date of the first Olympic Games
pan-Hellenism
the Lelantine War - a system of international alliances?
development of art and architecture
Protogeometric: amphora (large storage container), pyxis (small jar), hydria (water pitcher)
Continuity or Change?
literacy
religion
government
problems of evidence
How dark the Dark Ages?
Continue to the next lecture outline
Return to the previous lecture outline
Updated 1-19-07, bolmarcich[at]mail.utexas.edu