The Greek Middle Ages: c. 1125 - c.700 BC
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Population growth and land hunger
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During the C8th BC the economies of Archaic Greece flourished and one consequence was over-population during the second half of the C8th BC. Fertile land was limited in supply and the custom of dividing the land equally between male heirs also caused problems. One result of this was a period of extensive colonization. Another result was land hunger and rising debt. This created a class of discontented citizens. One stimulus to political revolution was the belief, probably a myth, held by most peasants throughout Greece, that during some golden age in the past land was more equitably distributed; therefore, there was a constant cry for redistribution of land, naturally enough resisted by the aristocracy. Hesiod, a farmer of the village of Ascra in Boeotia, in his Works and Days also illustrates the problem of land hunger. The starting point for this work by Hesiod is his complaint concerning the division of land between himself and his brother, whom he accuses of getting an unfair portion by bribing the aristocratic magistrates. Solon's writings also deal with the social problems caused by insufficient arable land. Money was invented in Lydia and was introduced into Europe via Aegina around 625 BC. As a result it became easier to buy and sell land. It also became possible to accumulate debt. However, as the work of Hesiod indicates, it was possible to trade in land even before the invention of money. The introduction of money is likely to have increased social tensions, the causes of which already existed.
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Contents of
The Greek Middle Ages: c. 1125 - c.700 BC
1 Population growth and land hunger
2 Economic expansion and the rising "middle class"
3 Cultural developments in Greece during the period of tyrannies
4 Hoplite tactics
5 Factional politics
6 Ethnic tensions
7 The downfall of tyrants in archaic Greece
8 The Dorian and Ionic migrations
9 The Dorians
10 Greek Dark age
11 The Greek City States
12 Greek colonization of the C8th BC
13 Greek colonization of the Aegean and East
14 Greek settlers in the Euxine
15 Causes of the Greek colonization
16 Archaeological evidence for Greek population expansion in C8th BC
17 Foundation of Cyrene
18 Corcyra
19 Olbia
20 The Lelantine war
21 Relations with Egypt
22 Greek Culture during the Greek Middle Ages
23 Introduction of phonetic script
24 Homer
25 Hesiod
26 Foundation of the Olympic Games
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