Scattered Candles in the Night – Civilization during the Greek Dark Age (c. 1100-750 BC)

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Published 2024-04-17
The Greek Dark Age, spanning roughly from 1100 to 750 BC, marks a mysterious chapter in the history of ancient Greece. Characterized by a sharp decrease in population, the abandonment of the once might Mycenaean palatial centers, disruption of trade networks, the loss of literacy and a steep decline in artistic endeavors, this time period was generally one of economic hardship and political fragmentation. However, amidst the darkness there were pockets of prosperity and social changes that eventually allowed for the rise of powerful Greek city-states and the dawn of Archaic Greek civilization.

Contents:

00:00 Introduction and Context
02:50 What was the Greek Dark Age
08:36 Greece enters the Iron Age
09:59 Greece starts to Recover
11:15 Chiefs and Chiefdoms
15:51 The Geometric Period
17:35 The Greek Alphabet
18:33 Panhellenism
21:53 Thank You and Patrons

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Sources and Suggested Reading:

Greece in the Making: 1200-479 BC - Robin Osborne
Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times - Thomas R. Martin
A History of Greece: 1300-30 BC - Victor Parker
Ancient Greece: A Political, Social and Cultural History - Edited by Sarah B. Pomeroy, Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts
The Complete History of Ancient Greece - Edited by Don Nardo
In Search of the Trojan War - Michael Wood

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All Comments (21)
  • @gdk7704
    Bro, YOU are like a candle in the night which is social media. In a world where the average attention span is 3 seconds, you come up with elegant and most of all accurate historical content, without any click bait or sensationalism. Keep doing what you're doing Cy, there are many of us who truly appreciate your labour!
  • @juelbriggs447
    I am absolutely fascinated by the Minoan, Aegean, Greek and Levant Bronze Age and the so called "Dark Age" that came after it. The "Sea Peoples", the first adoption and then rapid spread of the alphabet and the increased use of iron. The Ancient Greek and other people's writing down of their "myths" (which up to that time were embellished verbal accounts of Bronze Age history really) flowered eg Homer's Iliad and Odysee, the Old Testament etc. Amazing. I hope that one day someone (or AI) will be able to translate Linear A.
  • @richjordan6461
    Whoever the guy was who re-invented a Greek writing system must have been a genuis, a true Greek hero. Like a Galileo or Issac Newton type. And to think...we have no idea who he (or she) was
  • @JustGrowingUp84
    I love these dives into more obscure periods of history, excellent video Cy!
  • @noahlogue
    Cys channel is easily my favorite channel on YouTube.
  • @Leo_ofRedKeep
    The hypothesis of the "Dorian invasion" comes with the question of what an invasion is. It could be a whole people migrating in and displacing, slaughtering or admixing with the former inhabitants, or it could be an army taking control of the existing structures and replacing the ruling/taxing class while leaving the food producing populace as it was but altering the system that had made former monumental constructions possible. It seems similar to the rule of former parts of the Roman empire by the elite of Germanic tribes. The evolution of the "basileus" function from a civil servant to a king or nobleman fits such a narrative too.
  • The influence of Homer in modern culture is still felt; even in modern films, which usually contain one of two types of hero; the lone crazed avenger whose best buddy gets it, so he heads off for the final showdown, and the lovable scoundrel who outwits his foes and goes back home to the girl he left behind him.
  • @GLeibniz1716
    A really obscure period of antiquity that you illuminate; and out of which classical Greece arose! Well done cy and be safe!
  • @WanaxTV
    Great video on one of my favorite topics!
  • @vinrusso821
    Not as bad as many thought? I hear this often now, but when you lose 3/4 of your entire population, I would say it was pretty bad. A huge mystery to be sure.
  • @nyallcode
    I've always wanted to see a video on this! Great work, your ancestors are surely proud!
  • @lewis7315
    The really important classics of my 1950s childhood have already been removed from the librarys as having been unread and so trashed.
  • Oi Ciro! Que bom receber a notificação de um vídeo seu! Eu estava com saudades!
  • Very interesting. It seems to me that the start of the Greek dark age was very cataclysmic; the end of Mycenaean civilisation, writing and at least one strata of society. Many elements of classical Roman civilisation also survived the European dark ages but no one disputes that it was a catastrophic collapse of civilisation. I guess the distinction is between merely cataclysmic and total permanent destruction.
  • @brettmuir5679
    High praise to you Cy. 400 years on a text book page one digests in a gulp. You help make it real. Your channel is sooooo good. Thank you for all the work you do...I would love to stumble upon you some year hence, somewhere in Anatolia, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran...my good man, I stumbled upon you on YouTube. Perhaps one of these days we both will be lost in Armenia. I love this channel :)
  • @rts0fft0ya16
    Thanks, Cy. You might be my favorite channel on YouTube 👏 👍 You said the dark age probably wasn't as dark as once assumed, but I dunno. I'm sure it was relatively ok after things eventually settled down, but you said the population was reduced by 2/3rds? By Odin's eye patch! If our population was reduced 2/3rds..it would be dark times, indeed. 😮
  • This is some of the most obscure stuff to try and cover, and your animations, maps, and just overall visualization of what is, by nature, and obscure and hard to visualize period, was really excellent. Another fabulous video, thank you so much for what you do, I think it’s so important that this fascinating content be available for curious minds, and the production value is just ✨👌🏽❤️😊