From Crete Circa 3000 B.C. To the Ninth Century B.C.

Greece consists of a mainland that juts south into the eastern Mediterranean Sea, bounded by the Aegean Sea to the east, the Ionian Sea to the west, and by the larger Balkan Peninsula to the north. In addition to the mainland, Greece likewise consists of thousands of islands scattered primarily throughout the Aegean.

Climate: The coastal areas, lowlands and islands generally enjoy what is known as a Mediterranean Climate, with dry, hot summers and cool, wet winters. The farther one strays from these areas, however, the more one is exposed to more intense climates (derived from Europe's cold and Africa's heat).

Land and Sea Communications: Most of the population clustered

on the coastal plains or on the islands, and combined with the rugged terrain of the mainland’s interior, most trade, travel, and communications took place via the water.

Other General Characteristics: The varied geography of Greece

meant that each individual community more or less developed autonomously, leading to hundreds of independent states (some little more than a village and its farmland, others quite large in size). All were united however by a common religion, language, and culture.

Broadly speaking, we can break down the homeland of the Greeks into the following areas:

North-West Greece

North-East Greece

Central Greece

Peloponnese

Ionian Islands

Aegean Islands

Bordering the Ionian and Adriatic seas to the west, and the Balkans to the north, the peoples of North-West Greece were less starved for land than their fellows to the south, but were less developed and faced the prospects of barbarian incursions more readily.

Like their neighbours to the west, the Greeks of the north enjoyed more wide-open spaces, but had to deal with the depredations of Thracian tribes in addition to the colonizing efforts of their fellow countrymen.

Shielded from the barbarous north, the regions of Thessaly, Boeotia, and Attica contained some of the richest and most powerful states, particularly Thebes and Athens.

Connected to the mainland of Greece by the narrow Isthmus of Corinth, the Peloponnese contained a large number of important states such as Corinth and Argos. By far however, the most powerful (and by FAR the most famous) was the city of Sparta.

Sitting off the west coast of Greece, these islands served as crucial waypoints when travelling between the Greek homeland and Southern Italy, which would eventually be heavily colonized.

Surrounded by Thrace to the North, the Anatolian coast to the east, the Greek mainland to the west, and bounded by the largest island of Crete to the south. Hundreds of cities sprang up amongst these islands, including some which became major powers later on, such as Chios, Lesbos, Samos, and Rhodes. Crete likewise takes pride of place as the birthplace of Greek civilization.

Over the millennia there has been widespread deforestation, as well as soil erosion, not to mention changes to the coastlines. Overall, it used to be a far more prosperous land agriculturally speaking (you should still visit though!).

While the civilizations of the Near East and Egypt developed intricate cultures and vast empires, on the very edge of their world the industrious forbearers of the Greeks were forging the first link in the long chain of European civilization.

Unlike later periods we have little in the way of historical documents from the Bronze Age peoples of Greece, and what knowledge we do have of them comes from a variety of different sources.

Archaeology is a major factor, and sifting deeper down into a site allows us to examine items from further back in time.

Likewise, the presence of items from other civilizations in Greece and of Greek items in neighbouring regions allows us to cross reference the time frame of those items, and to determine what phases of development coexisted with one another.

This is particularly useful, as the ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, and Anatolian civilizations possess a definite set of dates, which the early Greeks sadly lack.

Finally, the study of ancient languages and dialects (Philology) means that by examining the languages of these peoples, we can track their origins and the routes they took to the lands where the historical record finds them.

The earliest civilization that we know of in what is now Greece is that of the Minoans. It is believed that these people migrated from the shores of Anatolia, from whence they colonized the island of Crete, the largest of the Aegean islands. The early Minoans culture developed in the early third millennium B.C. (i.e. 3000-2000 B.C.).

As they gradually developed a more elaborate and prosperous civilization, they began trading with the other nations of the region (mainland Greece, Egypt, the Levant). Throughout the second millennium B.C. the Minoan civilization flourished, becoming the cultural centre of the Aegean world, and settlements spread all along the coasts (indicating they were not afraid of attack, a symbol of Minoan power and security).

The era of their greatest prosperity was the period of c.1600-1400 B.C., and the centre of this prosperity was the great palace at Knossos. The high civilization of the Minoans combined with their awesome naval power and trade networks meant Crete was one of the most peaceful and prosperous areas of the Mediterranean world.

Around the end of the fifteenth century B.C., Knossos was devastated, along with much of the rest of Crete. What caused this is a mystery: it might have been war with the mainland Greeks, a civil war, or weakness caused by natural disaster.

Another possibility was that Crete and its Minoan inhabitants were the earliest victims of a force that would in the coming centuries ravage the entire Mediterranean world, destroying great civilizations and that may have precipitated the Great Bronze Age Collapse: The Sea Peoples.

While the great power of the Minoans had long thrived on Crete, around the dawn of the second millennium B.C. a new culture arose on the mainland of Greece that would come to be known as the Mycenaean civilization.

While they came for a time under the cultural influence of the Minoans, in time they too formed a powerful and cultured civilization. The fifteenth century B.C. saw a time of prosperity for both the mainland and islands of Greece, as trade with the other great civilizations of the Mediterranean brought considerable wealth to their lands.

The Mycenaeans were also a more warlike people than the Minoans (as far as we can tell), with references to them regarding both peaceful trade and military expeditions. The most famous Mycenaean conflict of all was however long thought to be a myth: the Trojan War.

Excavations in recent times however, including the discovery of Troy, indicate both that the story of the Trojan War may indeed have been based of some historical events, and that some of the folk legends of the ancient Greeks may indeed have a kernel of truth at their centre.

Towards the end of the second millennium the Mycenaean civilization declined, and while the exact causes cannot be known, the most likely was the great migration of the Dorians in southern Greece (the Dorian people themselves were a Hellenic group). Likewise, the Dorian migration may have been a part of the great migration/disaster that included the Bronze Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples.

After the fall of Troy (tentatively dated to around 1200 B.C.) great disasters engulfed the known world. What exactly caused it is unknown, but the results are readily apparent. Mass migrations by various barbarian peoples swept away the civilized nations of the Near East: besides Greek civilization the kingdom of the Hittites was destroyed, while even mighty Egypt was all but cut off from the sea by constant, violent attacks.

In Greece the Dorian invasions forced some of the indigenous Greek populations to scatter, while conquering others

One of these peoples was the

Ionians, some of whom managed to hold onto their territory in Greece (namely the region of Attica and its chief city, Athens), while others migrated across the Aegean to the islands and the coast of Anatolia. It is believed that these migrations from the mainland began around 1000 B.C.

Within a few centuries of this the great poet Homer composed his epics ‘The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey', which were folk tales based on the conflicts of the so called Heroic Age (the time period synonymous with the Trojan War), and laid down the basis for what would become the western literary canon.

The Ionians of Anatolia, the islands, and Attica were successful in consolidating their positions, and in the coming centuries they would move from simple migrations of necessity to purposefully colonizing from one end of the Mediterranean to the other.