The Reemergence of Greek Civilization, 1000–750 B.C.E.

The period of violence in 1200–1000 B.C.E. destroyed the prosperous large settlements of the Greeks and erased their knowledge of how to write. They therefore had to remake their civilization in Greece’s Dark Age (c. 1000–750 B.C.E.). Trade, cultural interaction, and technological innovation led to recovery: contact with the Near East promoted intellectual, artistic, and economic revival, while the introduction of metallurgy for making iron made farming more efficient. As conditions improved, a social elite distinguished by wealth and the competitive pursuit of individual excellence replaced the hierarchy of Mycenaean times. In the eighth century B.C.E., communal values helped create a radically new form of political organization in which central authority was based on citizenship.