3005 All the palaces of that time featured a megaron, or throne (1st century BC) was founded by the Romans. Troy VIIa is room, which had a raised central hearth under an opening in generally accepted as the Homeric Troy the roof. Four columns around the hearth supported an upper gallery around the sides of the room. A throne was placed against the centre of a wall to the side of the hearth, allowing 18. Dark Age (c.1100-c.750 BC) an unobstructed view between the ruler and the entrance. Dorian Greeks (c.1100-c.1000 BC) In the second half of the thirteenth century BC the Mycena- For a long time it was thought a Dorian invasion caused the ean cities appear to have been under threat. Fortifications at collapse of Mycenaean civilization, but now many believe Mycenae and Tiryns were strengthened, and provisions made that it was famine or some other natural disaster, combined to safeguard water supplies. A feature across the Corinthian with attacks by the Sea Peoples and internal warfare among Isthmus that appears to be a wall has been interpreted as a Mycenaean kingdoms that brought the civilization down. defence against an attack from the north. Linear-B tablets The Dorians appear to have originated in northern Greece, from Pylos refer to the despatch of watchers. Both Mycenae i.e. Epirus and southwest Macedonia. About 1100 BC they and Tiryns experienced a number of destructions before the swept southwards and filled the vacuum left by the collapse final disaster but the destructions c.1200 BC are distinguished of the Mycenaean civilization. The Dorians settled especially by their violence and almost simultaneous occurrence. in Elis, Laconia, Argos, Corinth, Sicyon, Epidaurus and Ae- gina, and crossed the seas to occupy Crete (Is), Melos (Is), Troy (c.3000-1st Century BC) Thera (Is) and the southern coast of Asia Minor. The Late Bronze Age was the chronological setting for most Culturally, the Dorians were inferior to the Mycenaeans; of the stories preserved in Greek mythology. The Classical their only major technical innovation was the iron slashing Greeks believed these legends and regarded them as part of sword. Greece was plunged into a dark age. Writing was lost, their history: the Trojan War, Jason and the voyage of the bureaucracy crumbled, commerce disappeared and large Argonauts, Oedipus and the Labours of Heracles. They dated building works ceased. Population declined and reverted to the Trojan War and the events associated with the Iliad to the pastoralism. Greece became a country of villages. period of the fall of the Mycenaean citadels, around 1200 BC. As our knowledge of the Dark Age is so dependent upon ar- The Iliad takes its title from Ilion, which he uses as an al- chaeological data the period is usually referred to by its pot- ternative name for Troy. Homer (c.750 BC) described Troy as tery sequence. The beginning of the period is marked by the a great city in the extreme northwest of Asia Minor. Its pow- making of an impoverished Sub-Mycenaean pottery (c.1100- erful walls, which precluded the capture of the city by direct c.1050 BC). By 1050 BC life in the peninsula seems to have assault, enclosed streets, palaces, temples and the houses of settled down and pottery production improved. Protogeomet- the Trojans and their allies. ric pottery (c.1050-c.900 BC) is characterized by wheel-made Schliemann began excavation in 1870 on a hill lying about wares decorated with geometric designs. During the Geomet- six kilometres inland from the Dardanelles, This hill, now ric (c.900-c.720 BC) these designs grew more elaborate and named Hisarlik, is generally identified with Troy; but this towards the end of the period stylized animals started to be identification rests on negative grounds only. No inscription used. In the Late Geometric (c.750-c.720 BC) figural scenes has ever been found at the site. On the other hand, if Troy was again appear on pottery found in the Dipylon Gate cemetery indeed a real place then Hisarlik is the only likely site in the at Athens in the works of the 'Dipylon Master'. appropriate part of Asia. An important development resulting from the breaking of Hisarlik contains nine main settlements that range from the contacts with the outside world was that with sources of cop- Bronze Age (Troy I-VII) through the Greek (Troy VIII) and per and tin cut off, iron ore, available in Greece but never Roman (Troy IX) periods. Excavation of the mound has dem- properly exploited, was smelted and iron eventually replaced onstrated that it was a small (two hectares) fortified citadel, bronze for weapons and everyday implements as it already and exploration south of the citadel has revealed an enclosed had done further east. lower city of Troy VI and VII, eighteen hectares in area, un- Migrations to Asia Minor (c.1050-c.950 BC) derlying the much later Roman town of Ilium. Greek tradition says that during a period after the Trojan War Troy-I (c.3000 BC) was a small, fortified citadel. Troy II there were four major migrations of Greek-speaking peoples (c.2600 BC) was dominated by a large megaron complex that in the Aegean: the Boeotians south to what became to be included a courtyard, storerooms and ancillary buildings in called Boeotia; the Ionians and Aeolians east to the west coast addition to three megara. Troy III-V (c.2250 BC) were settle- of Asia Minor; and the Dorians south to the Peloponnese. ments of small villages whose area remained unfortified until Although the historicity of these migrations is debated, lin- Troy V (20th century BC), when it was enclosed with a de- guistic analysis of the dialects spoken in a later age supports fence wall much inferior to that of Troy II. in general what is said to have happened. In the swath of terri- Powerful though the fortifications of Troy II had been, they tory stretching from the Peloponnese through the southern were far surpassed by those of Troy VI (17th century BC). It Aegean to the southwestern coast of Asia Minor the Doric appears that the citadel covered roughly twice the area of dialect was distinctive. Modern linguists tend to place the Troy II. Its prominent features were five gateways let into the Doric dialect within a larger category known as West Greek, circuit at irregular intervals, and a great tower built on the east which includes the language of the ancient Greeks around the side (probably to protect the water supply.). The houses were east coast of the Corinthian Gulf. The Aeolic dialects were built on terraces ascending from the circuit walls to the cita- spoken in Thessaly, Boeotia and northwest Asia Minor; and del. Troy VI was probably destroyed by an earthquake. Attic-Ionic dialects were spoken in Attica, Euboea, the central The Troy VI culture survived into Troy VIIa (c.1300 BC), Aegean islands, and along the western coast of Asia Minor. but after a short life this settlement seems to have been de- Disturbances following the Dorian occupation were said to stroyed by war. Troy VIIb (12th century BC) dates to the time have resulted in the expulsion of the Ionians from their origi- when Greek influence began to extend into the area. The site nal homeland in northern Peloponnese. According to a popu- remained uninhabited until Troy VIII (c.700 BC) was settled lar account the Ionians settled in Attica before moving on to by Greek colonists. The last city on this site Ilium/Troy IX Asia Minor where they colonized the central part of the west- ©antiquityplus.com .