Greece has a prolong history, which can be stretched back to thousands of years B.C. Greek Civilization is one of the most ancient civilizations in the world. The cultures and civilizations all over the world change in the course of time. The political, social, economic factors contribute a lot in disappearance of the old values and the emergence of new values in the society. Every culture and civilization has its unique characteristics. Greek civilization too has witnessed several transitions.The present paper aims to analyze those features of Greek civilization between the period of Monolithic Age and the Greece in 4th century. These characteristics have been analyzed with the help of two different books that have thrown light on the Ancient Greek civilization. In the book, The Ancient Near East and Greece, Donald Kagan discusses the era from the beginning of Early Helladic, Middle Helladic and the beginning of the Dark Age. The Second book is called Western Civilizations by Joshua Cole and Carol Symes. The book can better be called as the second part of Donald Kagan’s book. The authors have covered the era of 1000 B.C. to 400 B.C that is the era soon after the fall of Mycenaeans civilization. The chronological incidents have been covered in both of these books from the mentioned centuries. The main objective of the paper is to study the Greek history and Greek Civilization and the transitional phase of this civilization from Bronze Age to the Iron Age. Hence it can be said that it is comparative analysis between the pre Dark (Iron) Age and The Iron Age period. Before throwing the light on these two different eras mentioned in the books of Kagan and Cole & Symes, it is important to know the different characteristics that are discussed in the present research paper. These characteristics are as follows:
The social and economic system in Iron Age and Pre-iron age period
The concept of city and palace state
The transition in writing system
The political, social, economic and cultural factors of the two eras.
The important aspect of the Greek history is the division of the period starting from 3000 B.C. to Middle Helladic Period.The period of Greek history discussed by Kagan is
Neolithic,
Early Helladic (3000 B.C.)
Middle Helladic (2000 B.C.)
Cole and Symes in their book discuss the later period; that is Dark (Iron) Age. The period of Iron Age in the Greek History started in 1100 B.C. They have focused the political, social and economic situation in the Iron Age.
Both of the books focus on the cultural, political, and social system of Greece in the respective ages. As compared to the Greeks in Iron Age, in the Early Helladic period people were leading a simple life. As said by Kagan, the Anatolians residing in Greek Mainland seem to have lived quietly in town, which were small, unwalled and self-contained. In this era, the war was rare phenomenon and commerce also was minimal (Kagan, 111). Unlike this period, in the beginning of the Iron Age, the scope of human life widened. Their life was not as simple as the Early Helladic. On the contrary the standard of living improved, artisans developed and trade and commerce started spreading. Trade or commerce became very important part of the contemporary Greece (Cole & Symes, 77). Social stratification was based on the possession of wealth in Iron Age which was not found in Early Helladic period (Cole & Symes, 77). Middle Helladic Period was the transition phase when the Greek came in most areas as violent conquerors (Kagan, 111).
Rise of Polis or cities is another characteristic of the ancient Greece. The concept of cities was not developed earlier before the Iron Age. Instead of cities, the prominence was given to the palaces such as Mycenaean Palace State and Knossos As mentioned above, the people used to live in the towns. In Early Helladic age, people used to live in the town with fortifications. In Neolithic and Early Helladic periods, there used to be country towns and never became a city (Kagan, 112). Moreover, the scope of their life was limited as compared to the Iron Age people. In Middle Helladic period, the Greek came and started living with the Anatolians and learnt crafts and skills, legends, lore of men with walled cities, Tales of Gods and Heroes and sea-faring (Kagan, 112). The Greeks also were educated from Minoans who were the kin to the Anatolian habitants in Greece. This was the only cultural phenomenon of Greek civilization in Bronze Age is mentioned by Kagan.
Greek writing system is one of the characteristics of any civilization. In the course of time along with other changes the transition took place in the writing system as well. Before 12th century B.C. the writing system was based on the Linear B script which was used in Mycenean culture, the age between 13th Century B.C. and 10th B.C. It was replaced with Phoenician Alphabets. The alphabets are borrowed from various languages such as Latin and Cyrillic.
Before the establishment of the new political, social and economic system, the old system has to be over. The pre Iron Age as described by Kagan witnessed lot of political unrest and it culminated into the destruction of the civilization from Bronze Age. The Late Bronze Age, the Greek Dynasty managed things better under the kingship of Idomeneus. During Iron Age as described by Cole & Symes, the new civilization was emerged in which people would believe in political equality. This was the early democracy in Greece. It is the indication of the establishment and settlement of Greek culture in real sense. The ancestors of Greeks had spent their life in the activities such as war, invasion and unrest. The people in Iron Age as described by Cole & Symes were more developed culturally.
The people in this period realized that the realities of life are far different from the heroic world of fantasy. It was the period of being self confident than to be fatalist and rely on God and destiny for making things happen. The power of individual human being was regarded more important than relying on old religion and philosophy. The Greeks became very sophisticated in art and craft. Trade was the important feature of the contemporary Greek economy. It was the era of cultural upliftment of the Greeks. It was the era of the two world famous epics Illiad and Odyssey. The sophisticated and rational mind started taking life rationally and logically. As a result the earlier religious and philosophical views were changed. The people in this period realized that the realities of life are far different from the heroic world of fantasy. It was the period of being self confident than to be fatalist and rely on God and destiny for making things happen. The power of individual human being was regarded more important than relying on old religion and philosophy. The Greeks became very sophisticated in art and craft. Trade was the important feature of the contemporary Greek economy. It was the era of cultural upliftment of the Greeks.
The Middle Helladic Age as described by Kagan was full of political and economic unrest. It was the era of invasion, wars and destruction. The cultural development was rare in this era. The description of Bronze Age given by Kagan is only associated with establishing dominance by one clan of people over the other clan. Kagan has stressed the political situation whereas Cole & Symes focus on the cultural development and socially stable life of Greek in Iron Age. It was the period in which art and literature emerged. The earlier religious and philosophical views were changed.
The colonial expansion started in 8th century. The visual art started shaping. The Olympic Games were started. It was one of the long lasting cultural events and it has still been there in the modern world in which we are living. Along with cultural development, Cole & Symens focus on the social characteristics of the Iron Age. A proper social fabric was formed where class system was evolved. Seventh and sixth century witnessed class conflict, struggles and competitions. Glorification of male sexuality is one more aspect of this century. The city of Athens became the prominent city. Along with Athens, the city of Sparta was also flourished. The two cities were opposite with each other. Athens was creative, outward looking and sophisticated while Sparta was conventional city.
Both of these two books have thoroughly discussed the different characteristics of Greek civilization. If combined together, these two books make us familiar with the history of Greek civilization from Monolithic or Early Helladic Age to the history of ancient Greek till 4th century. The books have given a perfect chronology of historical incidents. The combined reading of these two books will help to give a complete picture of the Greek civilization.
Work Cited
Kagan, Donald. The Ancient Near East And Greece. 2nd ed. 1975. Print.
Cole, Joshua., & Carol, Symes. Western Civilizations. Vol. 1. Print.
