The history of the Greeks it does not begin in Greece or rather, it does not begin in mainland Greece, but on the island of Crete where towards the end of the third and the beginning of the second millennium BC the Minoan civilization develops , we do not know exactly when these people actually settled in Crete, but various archaeological sources tell us that the Minoans most likely populated the island as early as the Neolithic.
Around the second millennium BC the Minoan civilization begins to grow very rapidly, managing in a short time to become one of the greatest naval power of antiquity, their ships built with cypress wood ply the waters of the eastern Mediterranean arriving to trade with the Egypt , from which it is assumed that the Minoans have learned writing and have been strongly influenced on the artistic level, and in this sense many capture some link between the depiction of the Egyptian gods and the figure of the minotaur , both depicted with the body of a man and the head of an animal.
While the Minoan ships sail the Mediterranean on the mainland the so-called civilization of palaces develops, in this period great palaces are built in Knossos, Hanghia, Phaistos and Triada , which represent the epicenter of the Minoan civilization, we can imagine these palaces as medieval fortresses, at least as regards the organization, inside there were rooms intended for artisans, religious places, deposits and warehouses etc., subsequently, following the eruption of the volcano of the island of Tera ( today's santorini ) occurred around 1750, a series of violent earthquakes would have razed the buildings to the ground forcing the Minoans to leave the island, but they would return not long after.
It is hypothesized that the stories of Minoan refugees on mainland Greece regarding the effects of the eruption of Tera may be the basis of the myth of the origins of Greek civilization, in which Gods and Titans fight each other in a war to the death, causing violent earthquakes, tsunamis and rains of fire on the earth, consistent with what experienced by the fleeing Minoans.
The return of the Minoans to the island of Crete presumably takes place around 1600 and in this second phase their civilization becomes even more resplendent, the number of palaces increases considerably even if in this phase we have smaller palaces and their "fleet " is in direct competition with the Phoenician fleet which in the meantime had begun to move between the waters of the Mediterranean.
The great wealth of the island of Crete and the growing diffusion of offshore navigation among the Hellenic peoples, would have made Crete the ideal destination for pirate raids, and the island of Crete would have been repeatedly plundered and finally conquered. from the Achaeans , whose most important city was Mycenae , presumably around 1400 BC, which was followed between 1200-1100 BC. the Dorians.
Achei and Dori they are two of the four populations from Asia who would have settled on the Greek peninsula in the second millennium, but we will talk about them later. The severe blow inflicted by the invasions and some natural cataclysms of lesser magnitude than the eruption of 1750 would have led to the definitive disappearance of the Minoan civilization leaving many mysteries regarding the real level of technical knowledge of the Minoans and some speculate that the disappearance of this people somehow inspired the myth of Atlantis .
As for the continental history of Greece, as already mentioned, the Greek peninsula was the destination of periodic migrations by numerous peoples.
In the second millennium BC several Indo-European populations from the East, would have settled in the Greek peninsula, renaming it with the name of Ellade , among these populations Ionians, Aeolians, Achaeans and Dorians will be the most important ones.
The first people to settle in the Greek peninsula is the warrior people of the Ionians , which would have settled in Greece around 2000 BC, then, around 1600, the Aeolians and Achaeans would have arrived and pushed the Ionians towards Attica and Thessaly while Aeolians and Achaeans they would have occupied Boeotia respectively and the Peloponnese .
Among the various Achaean cities, the city of Mycenae would have been the largest and most important one that in a short time would have been able to take control over a large part of the peninsula and thanks to offshore navigation they would have been able to come into contact with the Minoans, trading and plundering.
Around the 11th century, with the arrival of the Dorians, the Greek peninsula underwent a new migratory phase that would have led to the almost complete disappearance of the Achaeans while the Aeolians settled on the 'island of Lesbos and on the Anatolian coasts in Aeolian , finally the Dorians they would have settled in the northern area of Greece and then expanded into Acacia and in the Peloponnese
The disappearance of the Mycenaean civilization coincides with the beginning of a period of decline of Greek culture that historiography generally indicates with the name of " Greek Middle Ages "Or" dark ages "However, these centuries will see the introduction in Greece of new construction and metalworking techniques, there will also be a great diffusion of the phonetic alphabet imported by the Phoenicians.
Conventionally, the end of the Dark Ages coincides with the first Olympic Games which took place according to tradition in 776 BC. whose establishment coincides with the beginning of the age of the polis whose birth and whose autonomy is favored by the particular geographical configuration whose mountain ranges and numerous islands make it difficult to unify the villages into a single state entity.
Between the eighth and sixth centuries BC, the Greek civilization began to expand beyond the Greek peninsula with the foundation of numerous colonies throughout the Mediterranean, these colonies keep the tradition, language and culture of the mother country unchanged, even if every colony maintain a considerable autonomy that would have made the colonies real new polis.
Between the sixth and fifth centuries Greece went through a phase known as the " period of the thieves ", In this era the intensification of trade routes especially between the mother country and colonies would have led to the spread of the monetary economy, moreover a new wealthy class would have developed, made up of merchants and artisans who, thanks to the opportunities offered by trade with colonies had acquired great economic power.
These families, which we will label somewhat anachronistically with the term “ Greek bourgeoisie ", Similarly to what would have happened to the European bourgeoisie in the eighteenth, they would have begun to ask for greater presence and representation at the political level and by exploiting popular discontent, due to the oppression of the poorest classes of society, they will be able to direct those popular energies against the nobility. From this social opposition between the nobility and the popular class, the "Greek bourgeoisie", thanks to popular support, would have managed to overturn the governments headed by the noble class, promising in return some important social reforms.
To quell social unrest and mediate with the people, the nobles are forced to ask for help from the "Greek bourgeoisie" class by granting them the autocratic government that would become known as tyranny .
The establishment of tyranny alone represents in the eyes of the people an important victory against the previous absolute power of the aristocrats, moreover the new wealthy class has humble origins and, unlike the aristocracy, it is not a closed social class, it is instead a class open to entry by the lower social classes.
Tyrants will soon learn to manage power by continuing to seek popular consensus and this would have led to ever greater popular participation in the management of politics and public life, and in the 5th century tyranny begins to transform into new governments composed of several political subjects generally assuming two models of reference, on the one hand the Oligarchy is affirmed and on the other hand Democracy is affirmed .
In oligarchic governments there is a small number of political subjects, which is however greater than in tyranny and absolute monarchies, in this system of government the aristocrats maintain their caste privileges, and participate in the government of the polis with life-long positions. / P>
In democratic governments there is a multitude of political subjects who will have the task of representing the people, in fact power is recognized to the people. Unlike the oligarchy in democratic systems, all citizens of the polis, regardless of their wealth class, can participate in the primary assembly and the council, whose members are elected or drawn and public decisions are made by popular majority.
These two forms of government that have replaced tyranny will not be able to coexist with each other and in the wars of the Peloponnese there will be a tough battle between the democratic polis led by Athens and the oligarchic ones led by Sparta.