The Greek Middle Ages: c. 1125 - c.700 BC
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Causes of the Greek colonization
In the past scholars were divided in the past over interpretation of the causes of the period of colonization that ensued - whether it was land hunger or trade that was the determining factor. However, the theory that it was land hunger that motivated the drive towards colonization is now fashionable. One such theorist is Murray (Early Greece). In fact, the Greeks themselves attributed colonization to this cause - for example, Thucydides states explicitly that "those who had insufficient land, made expeditions against the islands and subdued them." (1.15.1) Towns which lead the colonial expansion were primarily coastal towns that had less agricultural land or were prevented from expanding inwards for some reason - they include Corinth, Megara, Achaea, Chalcis, Eretria, Phocaeca and Miletus. 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. Syracuse was founded by the aristocrat Archias and men from the inland town of Tenea near Corinth, who were farmers not traders. 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. Another motive behind the foundation of a colony would be the easing of political tension within the ruling aristocracy. Each colony would have a foundeer (oikistes) drawn from one of the leading aristocratic families - thus removing from the mother city a potential rival leader.
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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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