Greek History

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Prehistory and the Bronze Age of Greece

The history of Greece is one of the oldest and most studied in all of Europe. Farming reached its shores from neighboring Anatolia about 8,000 years ago. These early farming communities, centered in modern Thessaly, are the oldest known in Europe. Their cereal crops and livestock allowed complex societies to form over thousands of years. By about 3,300 BCE, the people of prehistoric Greece were familiar with bronze-working and began building cities out of small villages. The earliest traces of the Greek language appeared in the area around 4,500 years ago.

At this time, Aegean civilization revolved around Crete, the island home of the Minoans. The Minoans represent the oldest major civilization of Europe, with their capital at Knossos. They flourished and cultivated maritime trade in the Mediterranean for about one thousand years. The Minoans also developed the earliest Greek alphabet, known today as Linear A. Their influence waned with the rise of the Mycenaeans, a more warlike mainland culture. The writings of the Mycenaeans show the roots of later Greek culture. Cities like Athens, Thebes, and Pylos were founded during this era. The beginnings of the Olympic pantheon were also established. Their civilization collapsed under vague circumstances around 1200 BCE.

Classical Greece

Greece entered its Iron Age around 800 BCE after a long period of turbulence and fragmentary writings. The new technology of iron-working was likely introduced by the conquering Dorian culture. At this time, power decentralized and settled into a network of advanced city states, or poleis. Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Corinth, Argos, Delphi, and Rhodes rose to prominence. Each polis operated independently and commanded the loyalty of its citizens. There was no real concept of a unified Greek culture, despite the similarities they shared. Their governments varied from Athenian democracy to monarchies, oligarchies, and tyrannies. Athens in particular is remembered for its extensive contributions to Western philosophy.

The relationships between these city states were complicated and always changing. After several close victories against the invading Persian Empire, Athens spearheaded the Delian League in 478 BCE. This alliance of city states was meant to strengthen Greek resistance to the Persians, but it also inflamed tensions between Athens and Sparta. The Peloponnesian Wars saw Sparta ally with Persia and other poleis to curb Athenian power. The wars proved costly for all involved, ending the Greek Golden Age and leaving the city states vulnerable to invasion.

Alexander the Great and Hellenism

The warring cities of Greece were united by an outsider in 338 BCE. Philip II of Macedon amassed a powerful army, overcoming a final alliance of the poleis. His son, Alexander, had been tutored by Greek scholars, including the famous philosopher Aristotle. When Philip was killed just two years later, 20-year-old Alexander embarked on a series of unprecedented conquests. His empire grew to cover Persia, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and part of modern India. His untimely death in Babylon at the age of 33 brought his conquest to a halt, but not before Greek culture had spread throughout his empire.

Hellenism exposed major civilizations to the philosophy, arts, and literature of Greece. It resulted in a new burst of discovery, innovation, and refinement in many regions. Greek colonies mixed with local populations, creating new cultures and dynasties. Ptolemaic Egypt in particular would remain under Greek influence until Cleopatra’s death in 30 BCE.

Greece During the Roman Empire

Greeks had long inhabited the Italian Peninsula and Sicily through various colonies, but they could not stand against the rising Roman Republic. Rome adopted much of Greek culture as it grew, including many of its deities. Prominent Roman families hired Greek tutors for their children or sent them to study in Greece. Roman art drew heavily from Greek architecture and sculpture. They built philosophic schools on Greek foundations and studied the accomplishments of Alexander. In this way, Greek culture remained distinct at home and morphed into many new forms abroad. One major Roman influence came in the form of Christianity, which spread through the Empire from the 4th century on.

The Byzantine Empire

The 4th century brought both Christianity and the split of the Roman Empire into two halves. The Western Roman Empire, dominated by Latin culture, struggled to fend off Germanic invasions and collapsed by 476 CE. The Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, meanwhile, shifted its capital to Constantinople. The Byzantines spoke Greek and capitalized on trade routes linking the civilizations of Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

For about 1,000 years, Constantinople remained one of the largest and most powerful cities in the world. In 1054, the Great Schism divided Christianity between the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy. Religious tensions culminated in 1204, when Catholic soldiers of the Fourth Crusade changed course and sacked Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire, weakened and isolated from Europe, could no longer stand against the expanding civilizations of Islam. In 1453, Ottoman Turk forces captured the city and made it their own. This event marked the end of the Byzantine Empire and Greek autonomy for several centuries.

Ottoman Rule in Greece

Under the Ottomans, Greek life for the most part continued as usual. The Turks practiced relative religious tolerance, which many Eastern Orthodox followers viewed as preferable to Catholic control. The majority of the Greek population lived as peasant farmers, growing olives and grain crops to feed the larger empire. Others carried on the ancient practice of Mediterranean maritime trade. The Ottomans controlled what is now Greece for four centuries before stagnating. Their decline opened the door for a growing nationalist movement seeking a free and independent Greek state.

The Greek War of Independence

In 1821, a series of Greek revolts broke out in the Ottoman Empire. Progress toward independence proved slow, hindered by civil wars and several Ottoman victories. By 1826, Russia, Britain, and France decided to step in on behalf of Greece. The new nation achieved independence in 1829, and a Bavarian prince was chosen as king three years later. This event marked the foundation of Greek national identity and its existence as a unified monarchy.

Modern Greece

The nation of Greece emerged at a time of global change and increasing economic competition. Its population was still primarily rural and growing rapidly. The process of industrialization could not move quickly enough to accommodate everyone. Many young people emigrated to nations like the United States in the early 20th century, creating a Greek diaspora. World War I saw violent conflicts over contested regions between the Ottomans, Greeks, and later modern Turkey. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Greeks were killed as part of the Greco-Turkish War. A few decades later, the Axis Powers occupied Greece during World War II. Those who resisted, as well as the nation’s Jewish population, faced severe reprisals, concentration camps, and death.

A civil war broke out immediately following World War II, fueled by Cold War dynamics. It ended in 1949 with the defeat of communist forces and Greece’s entry into NATO. After a brief period of recovery, a military coup overthrew the nation’s monarchy, ruling as a junta between 1967 and 1974. The nation then reformed as the Third Hellenic Republic. It has since enjoyed several decades of stability, increasing tourism revenue, and membership in NATO, the EU, and the eurozone. The economic crisis of 2008, however, hit the country especially hard. After a decade of bailouts, austerity measures, and political unrest, Greece’s economy has only recently turned toward recovery.

References

Brewer, David. Greece, the Hidden Centuries: Turkish Rule from the Fall of Constantinople to Greek Independence. I.B. Tauris. 2012.

Clogg, Richard. A Concise History of Greece. Cambridge University Press. 2013.

Doumanis, Nicholas. A History of Greece. Macmillan. 2009.

Martin, Thomas R. Ancient Greece. Yale University Press. 2013.

Stamouli, Nektaria. “Greek Bailout Ends, but Underlying Problems Remain.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 22 Aug. 2018, www.wsj.com/articles/greek-bailout-ends-but-underlying-problems-remain-1534874419.

“The World Factbook: Greece.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 14 Aug. 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gr.html.

Thomopoulos, Elaine. The History of Greece. ABC-CLIO. 2012.

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