Nefertiti K

The first European civilisation began in Crete about 2,000 BC. This bronze age civilisation is known as the Minoan civilisation. By about 1600 BC civilisation had spread to mainland Greece. This early Greek culture is called Mycenae.

The Mycenaeans built great palaces with frescoes and bathrooms. However the Mycenaeans seem to have been a warlike society. People were often buried with weapons such as swords, spears and daggers.

Most soldiers wore helmets made of leather with boar's tusks sewn on. They carried shields of leather over a wooden frame. Few could afford bronze armour or shields. They also fought in chariots.

However the Mycenaeans were also merchants and traders and they sailed all over the Mediterranean.

Then about 1,100 BC Mycenaean civilisation broke down amid famines and wars. The invention of writing was lost and Greece entered a dark age.

Cities in Ancient Greece

About 800 BC a new civilisation arose in Greece. This one used iron tools and weapons.

The new civilisation was made up of city-states called polis. Each city ruled the surrounding countryside. However although a city was the centre of each state most people lived in the countryside and made their living from farming.

Ancient Greek cities were protected by stone walls. Inside them most of the land was occupied by private homes. However there were also many temples and workshops. In a typical workshop a craftsman worked with one or two assistants and perhaps a slave.

In the middle of each city was a marketplace called the agora. Around it were rows of shops and colonnaded walkways called stoa.

Methods of government varied among the Ancient Greek city-states. However Athens is famous for democracy. The word democracy comes from the Greek words demos, meaning people and kratos meaning rule. Democracy was introduced in Athens 508 BC. Only men could vote, not women, slaves or foreigners.

In Athens there was a council made up of 500 men. They proposed new laws which were debated in an assembly, which all men could attend, held every 10 days.

The Athenians also had a method of removing politicians they disliked. At an assembly each year men wrote the name of an unpopular politician on pieces of broken pottery. If 600 men voted against him he was banished for 10 years. This practice gave us the word ostracize.

The Ancient Greeks also founded many colonies in the Mediterranean between 750 BC and 500 BC. The Greeks founded colonies in southern Italy and southern France. They also began colonies on the Turkish coast and around the Black Sea and on the coast of North Africa.

Society in Ancient Greece

Like all early civilisations Ancient Greece was an agricultural society. Most of the people lived by farming and the main form of wealth was owning land. In each city there was an upper class and a middle class of men like substantial farmers, doctors and teachers. However the vast majority of people were peasants and craftsmen or slaves. Slavery was common. (It is estimated that about 30% of the population of Athens was made up of slaves). If they worked in rich peoples homes slaves could be reasonably treated. However by law owners were allowed to flog slaves. Those slaves who worked in mines probably suffered the most.

Prisoners of war were made slaves. Furthermore any child born to a slave was automatically a slave. However there were also a huge number of slaves imported from abroad. Slaves were cheap and only the poorest Greeks could not afford them.

Even if they were not slaves most of the people in Ancient Greece had a very low standard of living. Despite all the achievements of Ancient Greece for most of its people life was hard.

When a child was born it was not regarded as a person until it was five days old when a special ceremony was held and the child became part of the family. Parents were entitled, by law, to abandon newborn babies to die of exposure. Sometimes strangers would adopt abandoned babies. However in that case the baby became a slave.