One question that has long puzzled historians is the fate of the Greeks (Mycenaens) during the period of time dubiously titled "The Dark Age of Greece".
This time period stretched from roughly 1150BC (or BCE) to about 850 BCE. During this time the Mycenaens vanished from their cities in large numbers. Even more curious, the Myceneans apparently cease writing for three centuries.
Nothing else in history compares to this phenomena. No other people (as far was we know) have ever abandoned their cities, crafts, and recordings for such a span of time. For three hundred years the Greeks effectively vanish from the historical record.
What could have caused such a mass exodus from civilization? This Washington State University website states simply that: "Not only did the Greeks abandon writing and most crafts, they also abandoned their large commercial network. They virtually stopped trading with Asia Minor, the Middle East, and Egypt; in fact, they seem to have stopped trading with one another as well."
Furthermore they speculate that: "From 1200 (or 1150, or 1100, take your pick) to 750, the Greeks lived a fairly sedentary, non-urbanized, agricultural life. Many villages were abandoned, and it seems likely that many Greeks returned to a nomadic life in small tribal groups."
An entire civilization leaving their cities and spontaneously returning to tribal living?
Quite mysterious.
The controversial historian Immanuel Velikovsky speculates that the gap in history is due to a mathematical error arising from basing the ancient Greek timescale off of the ancient Egyptian one.
Other historians maintain that: "The great palaces and cities of the Myceneans were destroyed or abandoned." or ". . .the Mycenaean civilization was undermined by an ecological catastrophe. The hill top fortress, forest fauna hunting, horse-based society depicted in Homer and Hesiod was supplanted by a trading culture connected more closely to the sea. The ecological deterioration was the loss of forests through human exploitation, making the prior economic structure unsustainable."
The fact that the ruined cities of the Mycenaens show no physical signs of this being the case is most curious.
Whatever the cause, it is clear that before they vanished the Mycenaens were writing in Linear B, and when they reappeared they were wrote using "the more familiar alpha-beta-gamma" style.
There are many theories as to what exactly happened to the Mycenaen Greeks during this period based on fragmentary and conflicting evidence. Far more has been written on the subject than I could possibly present in one forum post, but the fact is no one is quite sure where the Greeks went for these three hundred years, or why.
How's that for an "Ancient Mystery"?
-DBTrek
This time period stretched from roughly 1150BC (or BCE) to about 850 BCE. During this time the Mycenaens vanished from their cities in large numbers. Even more curious, the Myceneans apparently cease writing for three centuries.
Nothing else in history compares to this phenomena. No other people (as far was we know) have ever abandoned their cities, crafts, and recordings for such a span of time. For three hundred years the Greeks effectively vanish from the historical record.
What could have caused such a mass exodus from civilization? This Washington State University website states simply that: "Not only did the Greeks abandon writing and most crafts, they also abandoned their large commercial network. They virtually stopped trading with Asia Minor, the Middle East, and Egypt; in fact, they seem to have stopped trading with one another as well."
Furthermore they speculate that: "From 1200 (or 1150, or 1100, take your pick) to 750, the Greeks lived a fairly sedentary, non-urbanized, agricultural life. Many villages were abandoned, and it seems likely that many Greeks returned to a nomadic life in small tribal groups."
An entire civilization leaving their cities and spontaneously returning to tribal living?
Quite mysterious.
The controversial historian Immanuel Velikovsky speculates that the gap in history is due to a mathematical error arising from basing the ancient Greek timescale off of the ancient Egyptian one.
Other historians maintain that: "The great palaces and cities of the Myceneans were destroyed or abandoned." or ". . .the Mycenaean civilization was undermined by an ecological catastrophe. The hill top fortress, forest fauna hunting, horse-based society depicted in Homer and Hesiod was supplanted by a trading culture connected more closely to the sea. The ecological deterioration was the loss of forests through human exploitation, making the prior economic structure unsustainable."
The fact that the ruined cities of the Mycenaens show no physical signs of this being the case is most curious.
Whatever the cause, it is clear that before they vanished the Mycenaens were writing in Linear B, and when they reappeared they were wrote using "the more familiar alpha-beta-gamma" style.
There are many theories as to what exactly happened to the Mycenaen Greeks during this period based on fragmentary and conflicting evidence. Far more has been written on the subject than I could possibly present in one forum post, but the fact is no one is quite sure where the Greeks went for these three hundred years, or why.
How's that for an "Ancient Mystery"?
-DBTrek
