Contents

List of Maps and Illustrations viiiPreface ixAcknowledgements xii

1 Prehistory to 500 BC: Beginnings 1From early hominids to the first farmers 3The Early and Middle Bronze Age (c.3300–1500 BC) 4The Mycenaeans (c.1500–1200 BC) 7The Early Iron Age (c.1200–800 BC) 9The birth of Greece (c.800–600 BC) 13The question of authority 15Polis and community 19Early Greek thought 21Tyranny and its alternatives (c.650–500 BC) 23Hellas 26

2 Classical Greece (500–359 BC): The Golden Age of the Polis 28The Persian Wars (490–479 BC) 29Becoming Greek 31The growth of interstate disorder (c.478–445 BC) 33Periclean Athens: politics and theatre 38Temples and bodies 40Struggle for mastery I: 431–404 BC 42Consequences of war: art, philosophy and the polis 45Struggle for mastery II: 404–359 BC 49The consequences of endemic war 50

3 The Hellenistic Era (359–327 BC): From Philip II to Augustus 53Macedonia under Philip II 54Alexander the Great 57Hellenistic kingdoms (323–c.250 BC) 60Hellenizing the world 64

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Hellenism transformed 67Greece after Alexander 69Roman military expansion (c.280–269 BC) 73Roman hegemony from Republic to Empire 75

4 The Greek Roman Empire I (27 BC–AD 527): From the Pax Romana to Late Antiquity 78Origins of graecomania 79Imperium and the ‘sweetness of peace’ 82The poleis under the emperors 84Living museums: Athens, Sparta and the Aegean world 87Being Greek in the second century AD 89The Second Sophistic (AD c.60–230) 92The Empire at bay (AD c.170–400) 95Cultural divergence (AD c.230–400) 98Hellenism as paganism 100The Late Greek Roman Empire (AD c.395–527) 101

5 The Greek Roman Empire II (c.500–1200): The Triumph of Orthodoxy 105The sixth century 106Near collapse: the seventh century 109The seventh century ‘dark age’ 110The First Age of Iconoclasm (717–775) 113The triumph of Orthodoxy (775–843) 115The revival of Greece (800–1000) 118Imperial Byzantium (863–1025) 121The rise of the Komnenoi (1025–1095) 123Byzantium and the West (1095–1180) 125The Komnenian Golden Age 128

6 The Greek Oikoumene (1200–1700): Living underFrankish and Ottoman Rule 132The road to 1204 133The Fourth Crusade (1204) 135The Latin interregnum (1204–1261) 136Little Byzantiums 139Byzantium redux (1261–1282) 141The Catalans and the House of Osman (1282–1328) 142Contrasting fortunes (1328–1354) 144Ottoman vassal (1354–1451) 146

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The Greek oikoumene in the fifteenth century 148The fall of Constantinople (1453) 149Latin Greece 152Hellenism between Islam and the Renaissance 153

7 The Making of Modern Hellas (c.1700–1911): Ethnicity and State Building 156The world of the Greeks in the eighteenth century 157Governance and autonomy 160Greek leadership under the Ottomans 161Background to the Greek Revolt (c.1770–1820) 165Articulating modern Greece 168The Greek Revolt (1821–1825) 170The international context (1825–1833) 173Post-independence Greece 176The reign of Otho (1832–1864) 179George I and the age of Trikoupis (1863–1893) 181Mass politics and instability (1890–1910) 183The rise of Venizelos 185

8 Greece in the Twentieth Century: The Age of Extremes 188Belle epoque Greece 189Balkan ‘cleansing’ and Greece divided (1910–1918) 191The Asia Minor Catastrophe (1918–1922) 194The refugee impact 195Interwar turmoil (1922–1940) 197Greece under the Axis powers (1940–1945) 199Origins of the Greek Civil War (1943–1946) 201Civil war and its aftermath (1946–1952) 203Reconstruction and political restoration (1950–1961) 206Monarchy, the military and the parakratos (1961–1974) 208The Cyprus tragedy 211Liberal democracy since 1974 213The Greeks today 216

Notes 219Chronology 223Glossary 230Lists of Kings, Emperors, Sultans and Prime Ministers 234Selected Bibliography 242Index 248

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1. . . . . . . .

Prehistory to 500 BC:Beginnings

Historic Athens lies at the heart of a triangular-shaped plain that widensas it slopes gently towards the Saronic Gulf. The plain barely containsthe modern capital’s burgeoning urban sprawl, while the four mountains(Parnes 1413 m, Pentelikon 1106 m, Hymettos 1037 m, Aegaleos 470m) that form the landward perimeter rise so sharply that air pollutiongets trapped and generates a lingering haze – Athenians have dubbed itto nefos (the Cloud). Around the centre of the plain lie a series of hillsthat include the cone-shaped Likavitos, which rises to 227 m above sealevel and is crowned by a small, whitewashed church. The ancient citywas founded a short distance away, at the foot of a 70-metre-highplateau large enough to fit a small settlement. In antiquity it served as acitadel (acropolis), but to this day the world knows it simply as theAcropolis. First-time visitors come essentially to see the Parthenon thatnow sits in splendid isolation on the plateau, but it is the plateau, thisstriking physical protrusion, where Athena and Poseidon did battle forthe city, that enhances the temple’s majesty and allows it to dominate thecityscape.

Indeed the entire Aegean basin, with its wild scattering of islands andcraggy coastlines, gives the impression that it was created by a greatcelestial disturbance: the story told by geologists today might haveresonated with the Greeks in Homer’s day. Roughly 70 million yearsago, the African plate began its movement towards the Eurasian plate,producing a depression that became the Mediterranean, along with aseries of peninsulas (e.g. Italy, the Balkans and Anatolia), and mountainranges (from the Pyrenees to the Alps) which continue along a south-eastern axis across the Balkans through to Turkey and Iran. The Pindusrange, along with the Peloponnese, the Ionians, the southern Cyclades,

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Crete, Karpathos and Rhodes, form part of the same mountain belt. Ayounger parallel range developed further west, consisting of MtOlympus, eastern Thessaly, Eubeoa, eastern Attica and the northernCycladic Islands. Greece, Anatolia and southern Italy straddle the unsta-ble tectonic juncture that is marked by a line of volcanos (e.g. Nisyros,Santorini (Thira), Melos, Etna, Vesuvius). On rare occasions, one can seenew terrain forming with the naked eye.

Geography is fundamental to our understanding of Greek history. Forexample, the mountain chains that cover most of the mainland and thathindered overland communications were ideal for banditry and forvillages and towns wishing to live beyond the reach of the state, the so-called agrafa (unregistered). With only a small proportion of Greeceamenable to intensive agriculture, local communities have been particu-larly dependent on seaborne trade for staple foods and on other maritimeactivities for income. A low population threshold has also meant thatGreeks have had a tradition of emigration that can be traced back to theearliest times.

Greece was never equipped in an ecological sense to be a major popu-lation hub. It set a contrast to the much richer and heavily populated civi-lizations that emerged in Mesopotamia and Egypt, where intensiveagriculture enjoyed a dependable source of irrigation from theEuphrates, Tigris and Nile rivers. The average Greek farmer was forcedto contend with capricious rainfall that could vary annually in terms ofvolume and distribution. The rains arrive with airstreams from northernEurope, but they are unpredictable because the Balkan mountain rangesform a barrier. During the winter months, when roughly 80 per cent ofannual rainfall is received, the rain precipitates with little consistencyeven over short distances, while it is not unusual to experience double orhalf the annual average rainfall in a given year. Farmers since beforeHomer’s time have adapted to such challenges by favouring crops thatrequire relatively little hydration, especially olives, vines and cereals,and by anticipating one crop failure every four to five years. In Worksand Days, Hesiod, Homer’s near contemporary, harangues his lazybrother about the need to work hard and be resourceful: ‘O noblePerseus, keep my words in mind, and work till hunger is your enemy’.1

Since Hesiod’s day, farmers have minimized risk through mixed crop-ping (growing different crops on the same plot) and by using dispersedparcels of land, which have helped to distribute the risk of crop failure.Reliance on communal support networks also explains the persistentpreference for clustering in village settlements.

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FROM EARLY HOMINIDS TO THE FIRST FARMERS

Europe’s earliest hominids arrived via Anatolia as early as 800,000 yearsago, although the only Greek site that has yielded much information is acave at Petrálona, 35 km south of Thessaloniki, which contains hominidremains dating back to 300,000 or even 400,000 years ago. The archae-ological record improves marginally for the period between 55,000 to30,000 years ago, with clear signs of the presence of Neanderthals inThessaly, Epirus and the northern Peloponnese, and some evidence ofthe first anatomically modern humans. (The majority of scholars agreethat Homo sapiens emerged in Africa about 250,000 years ago, fromwhere they migrated to other continents and superseded all otherhominid species.) We attain a slightly clearer picture of human activityin Greece from the time of the Last Glacial Maximum (c.20,000 yearsago), when ice sheets covered northern Europe and the southern half ofthe continent was a cold, windswept, steppe land. About 18,000 yearsago, the sea level was about 120 m lower than it is today, which meantmany Aegean islands were joined to the mainland. The central CycladesIslands, from Andros down to Ios, formed a single island that was hometo such things as pygmy elephants and other dwarf megafauna.

What set Homo sapiens apart from other hominids was their excep-tional capacity to acquire, store and accumulate knowledge, and itappears that the changing climatic conditions following the Last GlacialMaximum created new challenges that fostered greater human virtuosityand cognitive development. Our best information on late PalaeolithicGreece comes from the Franchthi Cave near the modern town ofNafplion. Prehistorians have discerned sequential alterations in diet andtechnologies that corresponded with changes in environment. At thebeginning of the Last Glacial Maximum, the cave served as a shelter forhunters of wild horses and cattle that grazed the nearby plains. By 14,000years ago, the evidence points to a warming climate and forestation,which provided excellent cover for smaller game such as deer. By thatstage, the Franchthi Cave dwellers had improved their foraging skills andlived on a diverse range of fruits, vegetables, cereals, nuts, fish and shell-fish. By 12,000 or 11,000 years ago, the occupants of the cave had clearlybecome skilled seafarers since they could travel as far as Melos to extractobsidian, a natural form of glass from which was made very sharp andhighly prized tools. Beyond Franchthi and several other sites, however,there is precious little evidence of human activity, which may meanGreece did not attract, or could not support, large numbers of foragers.

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The first great transformation in human history took place from about11,000 or 10,000 years ago with the Neolithic Revolution, when directintervention in plant reproductive processes created a more stable sourceof staple foods. Agriculture required sedentary living, which led to popu-lation increases and, eventually, more complex societies. Immigrantsfrom Anatolia and the Near East (Syria/Palestine/Mesopotamia/Egypt)introduced farming skills and knowledge to Greece as early as 9000 yearsago, or 7000 BC. These newcomers also grazed goats, pigs and cattle, andamong their material possessions were fire-clay figurines, pottery andtools used specifically for farming chores. From 7000–5500 BC, mostfarming communities were concentrated in the wide and well-irrigatedplain of Thessaly, but during the subsequent phase (5500–4000 BC) wefind settlements appearing throughout the mainland and islands. Towardsthe end of the Neolithic Era (4500/3200 BC) there were many morefarming villages across the Balkans. The typical house was made ofmudbrick and timber, and it contained household necessities (ovens,kitchenware, etc.) and storage room for tools and food. Each house waspacked tightly with several other residences, and each locality was part ofa regional exchange network. Occasionally, archaeologists unearth luxurygoods that had clearly travelled from the Near East and perhaps beyond.

Eventually, this lively but unexceptional world of dispersed villageswas to form the basis of more complex societies. More than 4000 yearsafter the arrival of the earliest farmers, we begin to see very early signsof urbanization, wealth accumulation, the emergence of social elites andincreasingly sophisticated economic networks. The end of the fourthmillennium BC marks the onset of the Aegean Bronze Age, so-calledbecause bronze had come into common use.

THE EARLY AND MIDDLE BRONZE AGE (C.3300–1500 BC)

Complex societies emerged where farming communities were able toproduce enough surplus wealth to support specialist occupations notdirectly related to food production, such as craftsmen, priests, scribesand warriors. Throughout the Early Bronze Age (3300–2000 BC), agri-culture in southern Mesopotamia sustained a dense patchwork of urbancentres, while Egypt, the world’s first territorial state, developed thetechnical and managerial expertise to build structures as massive as theGreat Pyramids at Giza. It was during this period that we also find earlysigns of societal complexity in the Aegean area. Sometime during the

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period 2700–2200 BC, large buildings were erected at Lerna and Tirynsin the north-western Peloponnese, as well as at Troy (specifically TroyII) and Poliochni on Limnos. In each case, construction required a rangeof craft specializations. The so-called ‘House of Tiles’ at Lerna, forexample, was 25 × 12 m in size, with an elaborately designed structurethat included corridors and a variety of rooms. The building also featuredfired clay roof tiles, wood-sheathed doorjambs and stucco-plasteredwalls. Archaeologists ascribe great significance to such sites becausethey presuppose the existence of craft specializations, social hierarchiesand regional exchange networks that can only exist with complex soci-eties.

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TROADTroy

LESBOS

KOS

RHODES

CRETE

AEOLIS

IONIA

LIMNOS

SYROS

CHALKIDIKI

AEGEANSEA

ThebesDelphi

Argos

Corinth

Lerna Tiryns

P E L O P O N N E S E

ARCADIAELIS

ACHAEA

MESSENIA

Mycaenae

Pylos

THESSALY

AETOLIAPHOKIS

Velestino

MELOS

DELOS

Akrotiri

Petralona

SANTORINI

LAKONIAKARIA

Poliochni

Ephesos

Smyrna

Zakros

Malia

Phaistos

CYCLADES

MACEDONIATHRACE

ITHACA

BOEOTIA

AthensATTICA

Franchthi

LefkandiEUBOEA

0 100 km

Chalandriani

Knossos

Map 1 The Aegean during the Bronze and early Iron Age

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There is nothing about these Early Bronze Age cultures that can bemeaningfully described as ‘Greek’, although scholars have speculatedthat the Greek language was introduced to the region sometime duringthis era. Along with Persian, north Indian and most European tongues,Greek belongs to the Indo-European family of languages, and it appearsthat an early form of Greek or proto-Greek was imported sometimebetween 2700 and 2000 BC. Experts nowadays tend to believe that Greektook on its basic form when it fused with indigenous Aegean and westernAnatolian languages, and where it took on such un-Indo-European char-acteristics as the suffix ‘inth’ (as in Korinthos/Corinth). Scholars continueto use sophisticated linguistic, archaeological and even DNA analysis tospeculate about an earlier date for the ‘coming of the Greeks’, althoughthe only conclusive evidence comes from the very end of the Bronze Age,with the advent of written Greek. With good reason, therefore, scholarsprefer to talk of an ‘Aegean’ rather than a ‘Greek’ Bronze Age.

The Cyclades Islands provided the setting for the most distinctivecultures during the Early Bronze Age. Seaborne trade flourished, as theislands formed a physical chain between the Greek mainland on the onehand, and Crete and the Near East on the other, and because some islandswere good sources of minerals. Centres such as Kastri and Chalandrianion Syros also developed distinctive craft specializations that were inhigh demand and which were imitated throughout the Aegean basin andindeed beyond. Cycladic art is best known for the highly abstract andschematic marble figurines that depict (mostly) women standing uprightwith folded arms. Only noses, breasts and limbs are defined, and some-times ears and the pubic area. These minimalist figurines have drawn agreat deal of interest from modern abstract artists and sculptors, althoughrecent scientific studies have confirmed that the smooth surfaces wereonce illustrated with detailed facial features, tattoos and jewellery.

By 2200 BC, the Aegean basin, as indeed the entire easternMediterranean world, experienced an economic downturn and depopu-lation. A significant exception was Crete, a relatively fertile island thatcould support a much larger population than all the Cycladic Islandscombined, and where archaeologists have discerned a gradual improve-ment in material wealth. By 1900 BC, Cretans had played a leading rolein the revival of eastern Mediterranean trade, and by 1600 BC they hadbuilt cities and palaces that could be compared to anything in the NearEast in terms of sophistication and scale.

‘Minoan Civilization’, as it was later named, was distinguished by aseries of independent but closely engaged cities. The largest, Knossos, at

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its height had as many as 15,000 inhabitants. Other cities like KatoZakro, Phaistos, Malia and Gournia ranged between 5000 and 10,000inhabitants, and also featured street drainage, sewerage and otherplanned amenities. Each city was the centre of a regionally administeredpolity that operated with a bureaucracy and a writing system: the Cretanscript, Linear A. This, however, cannot be deciphered, but it wasundoubtedly used for accounting purposes. Government administrationwas located in a monumental and multifunctional building or ‘palace’that also served as the centre of trade, worship and entertainment. Inessence, most, if not all, significant public activity was centred in thepalace. The labyrinthine structure unearthed at Knossos consisted of1300 rooms that provided a variety of civic functions.

As with the earlier Bronze Age cultures, the Minoans were not neces-sarily ‘Greek’, but they did have an enormous impact on the earliestGreek-speaking societies on the mainland. Their most important legacywas as purveyors of culture and ideas from the Near East, particularlyEgypt. Crete itself was very much a part of the Near Eastern orbit: itsadministration, economic organization and architecture were stronglyinfluenced by eastern models. The Minoans also left their own particu-lar imprint on the wider Aegean world, and the clearest measure of thatinfluence was the popularity of Minoan art. Some of the most strikingexamples of Minoan society can be seen at Akrotiri on the island ofSantorini, where frescos depict typically Minoan subject matter, such asexotic fauna and women engaged in various day-to-day and ceremonialactivities. On the mainland, artists made a habit of copying the uniquelyMinoan motif of boys engaged in bull leaping, while women are usuallydepicted in Cretan dress, along with Cretan hairstyles, jewellery andmake-up. At some point after 1400 BC, for reasons for which we can onlyguess, Minoan civilization went into decline and power shifted to themainland, where new palace-centred states had also adapted Minoanforms of bureaucracy and architecture.

THE MYCENAEANS (C.1500–1200 BC)

There was also much that separated the Minoans and the mainlanders.Artwork uncovered by archaeologists at Mycenae, the site after whichthis civilization was named, appears to celebrate martial qualities bydepicting warriors, warfare and other such subject matter. At greatexpense, Mycenaeans built large tholoi (tombs) for elite warriors and

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their military paraphernalia. Whereas the Minoans had no need fordefensive walls, the ‘Mycenaeans’ invested much of their wealth in forti-fications and citadels. Initially, the archaeologists who uncoveredMycenae and other Late Bronze Age centres believed that they hadfound the cities and palaces of the warrior kings described in Homer’sepics, but it soon transpired that the resemblances were superficial.Mycenaean society was structurally sophisticated and had more incommon with the Egypt of Ramesses II (1279–1212 BC) and theAssyrian kingdom of Shalmaneser I (1263–1234 BC) than with the tinywarrior chiefdom of Odysseus’ Ithaca.

More so than the Minoans, the Mycenaeans formed part of an inter-connected set of eastern Mediterranean states and cultures. Much likeEgypt, Assyria and the Hittite kingdom, the Mycenaeans had centralizedstates that were ruled by kings, who lived in fortified palaces and weresurrounded by scribes that operated complex bureaucracies. Mycenaeanrulers also formed part of a trans-Mediterranean elite that was connectedthrough diplomacy and the exchanging of gifts, and which appeared toconform with a common aristocratic lifestyle. Archaeologists have alsonoted the growth and intensity of inter-Mediterranean trade in this LateBronze Age period. Most of our information comes from palace docu-mentation, but a great deal of insight is now provided by shipwrecks thathave been examined by marine archaeologists. A Phoenician shipwreckdiscovered off Ulu Burun in southern Turkey, and dated to 1325 BC, wasfound to contain 12 tonnes of cargo bound for the Greek mainland. Muchof it included raw and manufactured goods from Syria, Canaan andEgypt, such as musical instruments, ivory tusks, hippopotamus teeth,fishing equipment and a gold scarab belonging to Queen Nefertiti ofEgypt.

What makes the Mycenaeans especially important in terms of Greekhistory, however, is language. Among the ruins at Mycenae, Pylos,Tiryns and Thebes were also found numerous clay tablets that featured alinear script. Dubbed ‘Linear B’, the script revealed patterned combina-tions that formed syllables, which in turn rendered words that resembledthe earliest known forms of Greek. For example, the Linear B wordskunaja and pamako corresponded to the Greek words gune (woman) andpharmako (medicine). Among the words deciphered are terms that areeasily identified in Modern Greek: antropos (man), ipos (horse) andtranion (desk).

The decipherment of Linear B in the 1950s confirmed Greek as one ofthe world’s oldest living languages, while also permitting a more inti-

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mate understanding of Mycenaean society. At Pylos, for example, thefabled city of King Nestor, the records do indeed refer to kings (wanax –singular), a secondary figure that might have been a war leader (lawage-tus), a court (hequetai), district administrators (korete) and deputies(prokorete), and what appears to be a council of elders (gerosija). Allthese terms survive in classical Greek (laos-agein, heretai, prokoitos,gerousia), except for wanax – the ‘w’ sound was to disappear altogetherfrom Greek. Land tenure arrangements suggest a highly stratified societythat included a large population of free subjects described as damon. Forthe most part, the Linear B tablets consist of bureaucratic accounts, butwe also learn something about religion, including the names of laterGreek gods. Thus ‘Diwonusojo’ becomes ‘Dionysus’, ‘Era’ becomes‘Hera’ and ‘Posedaone’ becomes ‘Poseidon’. Zeus, Athena, Hermes andApollo are also evident in the Mycenaean pantheon.

The records give no insight, however, as to why Mycenaean civiliza-tion collapsed. The material record shows that there was a breakdownaround 1200 BC, followed by a short recovery, and then a final collapse by1125 BC. Palaces were abandoned and communities migrated to theislands and overseas: thus migrants from Arcadia in the centralPeloponnese settled on Cyprus. Aegean communities became smaller,more dispersed and self-sufficient. Literacy disappeared and links with thewider world were limited. Many scholars refer to the onset of a ‘dark age’.

THE EARLY IRON AGE (C.1200–800 BC)

The destruction of Mycenae was part of a much wider calamity thataffected every part of the eastern Mediterranean. Near Eastern recordsindicate waves of disruptive mass migration movements, the breakdownof regional trading networks and the destruction of cities all along theSyrian coastline. The identity of the invaders, however, remains amystery, and it is quite likely that there were other, perhaps more telling,reasons for the general breakdown, including climate change. As ithappened, some state systems recovered more quickly than others, butthe impact on Mycenaean civilization was irreparable. Sometimebetween 1130 and 1125 BC, the palace economies ceased to function. Anexplanation might be that the international framework of political,cultural and gift exchange that had sustained elite groups across theeastern Mediterranean had not recovered, and that the Mycenaean order,which seemed particularly dependent on those links, could not be

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10

NaxosRhegion

SyracuseCarthageUtica

Gades

Malaca

Tartessos

Emporion

Agatha

Massalia

Spina

M e d i t e r r a n e a nS e a

Megara Hyblaia

Neapolis

Map 2 Greek settlement expansion during the Archaic period

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T H R A C E

E G Y P T

Ephesos

HalikarnassosSideArgos

MethoneApollonia

Epidamnos

Kerkyra

Odessos

Istros

Olbia

Scyth ians

I L L Y R I A

M e d i t e r r a n e a n S e a

TheodosiaNymphaoin

Byzantion

Mesembria

Apollonia

Lokri

Taras

Sybaris

Croton

P h o e n i c i a

Sidon

Tyre

SinopeKerasous

Trapezus

Phasis

Herakleia

Thasos

Phokaia

Al MinaKelenderis

Paphos

Salamis

S y r i a

Apollonia

Kyrene

K y r e n a i k aNaukratis

Cyprus

Eusperides

Crete

Sparta

EretriaAthens

Knidos

B l a c k S e a

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reconstituted. Without the eastern Mediterranean network, elites lost anessential source of wealth, and the palaces, bureaucrats and craftsmenbecame redundant.

The ensuing period was a ‘dark age’ in the sense that we have nowritten record. What we know about it is inferred from archaeologicalresearch, and the material record shows that between 1200 and 1000 BC,the Aegean world had fewer and smaller settlements, and hardly anymonumental structures (e.g. palaces, citadels and tombs) that mightsuggest societal complexity. Rather, we find this world had reverted tomuch simpler patterns of organization, and yet there were also earlysigns of a new kind of world in the making.

Regional trading networks can be traced by the distribution of simplegeometric pottery styles and regional dialects. Certain communities,particularly on the island of Euboea, continued to engage with NearEastern centres. For that reason, the Euboean centre of Lefkandi, themost illuminating archaeological site of that period, appears to haveretained the rudiments of a complex society. It features a villa roughly10 × 45 m, with internal and external colonnades. Construction wouldhave required specialized craftsmen and somewhere between 500 and2000 working days to build. The period is also distinguished by closeconnections with iron-producing communities on Cyprus, which intro-duced iron to the Aegean world.

The ‘dark age’ is best viewed as a transitional period, when a NearEastern model of societal organization disappeared, and when a ratherdifferent society begins to emerge. The key development is the forma-tion of a new Aegean elite. The most powerful figures in this period werechiefs or regional strongmen who liked to be buried with their weaponsand armour in elaborate graves. The rediscovery of such graves hasyielded a consistent pattern of practices that apply throughout the Greekmainland and the islands, thus suggesting a social order that was distin-guishable by a common lifestyle and set of values. Compared to theMycenaean warrior tombs, these graves reveal an elite of modest means,and not unlike the kings depicted in the Homeric epics that, despite theirgreat status, were not necessarily wealthy. It was sometime during thisdark age that the epics attributed to Homer were composed.

One can glean other developments from the material record, includingthe patterning of regional Greek dialects, although the way these dialectswere transmitted is hard to explain. Certainly, the conventional view thatattributed this process to the Dorian, Ionian and Aeolian invasions hasbeen firmly discredited. Overall, we know that by 800 BC a very distinct

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society was in the making. There were significant continuities datingback to the Late Bronze Age, such as the gods, language and suchconcepts as damon, which appears also to refer to an administrative unit.Otherwise the new Aegean world was significantly different to thatcreated by the Mycenaeans, as much as it was to anything found in theNear East.

THE BIRTH OF GREECE (C.800–600 BC)

By the eighth century, Aegean communities had proliferated and becomemore prosperous. Gravesites reveal an increasingly rich repository ofmaterials that indicate the growth of manufacturing and increasedcontact with the Near East. Another sign of material prosperity is theconstruction of temples or religious sanctuaries, along with the materialofferings (‘votives’) deposited by worshippers.

The most concrete manifestation of growth, however, is land recla-mation and urbanization. In fact, the period is marked by the synoikismos(urban coalescence) of smaller village communities into larger andhence stronger communal units known as poleis (sing. polis). The advan-tages of synoikismos were many. As a larger unit, the polis was betterplaced to compete militarily and economically in an increasinglycompetitive interregional environment. The historian Thucydides notedthat under the leadership of Theseus, Athens became a polis when thescattered settlements of Attica agreed to abandon their local institutionsand accepted a common political authority. From an economic perspec-tive, urban centres served as the focus of local exchange and production,while, in terms of security, the polis could mobilize more warriors andfinance expensive fortifications. In time, the polis became the focus ofpolitical life, law-making, economic activity and cult practices. Whatemerged was the ‘city-state’.

It is important to bear in mind that large parts of the Greek-speakingworld retained older forms of political organization or developed differ-ent systems, and that these polities came to play an important part inGreek history. Thus, in many parts of Greece, such as Aetolia andArcadia, scattered communities chose to form federations based onethnic or tribal affiliations. In Macedonia and Epiros, on the other hand,Homeric-styled kings continued to wield power. It was the polis,however, that was responsible for creating a distinctively ‘Greek’ civi-lization. The polis became the focus of identity and political sovereignty,

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subsuming all other loyalties, including ethnic, tribal and kinship ties. Itcame to symbolize all its members, and not just its elites, and providedan environment in which cultural creativity and rethinking paradigmswere possible.

As poleis were being formed in Greece, new ones were also beingestablished outside the Aegean region. The first overseas farming settle-ment was established by communities from Euboea at Kyme (Cumae) inthe Bay of Naples. Other settler colonies were soon created along theBay and eastern Sicily, including Naples (Neapoli) and Syracuse, whichwas founded by the Corinthians. The Greek cities of southern Italybecame so numerous that the entire region was later known as ‘GreaterGreece’ (Megali Ellas, Magna Graecia in Latin). Other regions thatfeatured a significant number of Greek settlements included the entireBlack Sea littoral, coastal Libya and Provence. Among the numerouscities founded were Massalia (Marseille) and Byzantion (Constantinople/Istanbul). Significantly, these settlements were not colonies, insofar asthey were independent entities that nevertheless retained familial bondswith the founding poleis in old Greece.

Relations between natives and settlers also varied. A most intriguingfeature of Greek ‘colonization’ is the extent to which indigenous peoplesmight have influenced the overseas poleis, especially as we cannotassume that ‘natives’ were more backward or less refined than theGreeks. It does appear, however, that along these frontier zones Greeksettlers retained a more acute sense of their own homeland identity, andit may be that these overseas settlers were pioneers in formulating Greekidentity. Their determination to retain ancestral links was reflected in theunusually large temples that were built in places like Agrigento, and inthe large number of dedications deposited at religious centres back in‘Old Greece’, particularly Delphi. And yet it is also clear that the over-seas Greeks were strongly influenced by indigenous peoples and theirways. Cultural mixing was reflected in artwork and perpetuated throughintermarriage. Herodotus of Halikarnassos, for example, the celebratedfather of history and among the first to write about the Greeks as adistinct ethnos (people), was of mixed Greek and Karian stock.

The most important extraneous influence on Greek culture in theseformative years was the Near East. Historians speak of an ‘orientalizing’period (around the eighth and seventh centuries), when Greek artistsinvented a highly original approach to art by adapting and refashioningeastern traditions and techniques. Early Greek interest in sculptinghuman figures, for example, was directly inspired by long-standing

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Egyptian traditions. Greek social elites also looked to their much richercounterparts in Egypt, Persia and Phoenicia to learn about how to act andbehave as aristocrats. They adopted lifestyles of conspicuous consump-tion and such seemingly trivial traits as reclining on couches and givingdinner parties. They also relearned the fundamental skill of literacy. Themany variations of the Greek alphabet were based directly on an exist-ing Phoenician script, but, as with everything else, such borrowings wereadapted in creative and wholly innovative ways. Thus, the Greeks addedvowels to the alphabet, and by the time of Herodotus they had inventedprose literature.

THE QUESTION OF AUTHORITY

Trends from 900 BC onwards reveal a commonplace pattern of an emerg-ing complex society: population growth, urbanization, craft industries,fine art and literacy. What sets the Greeks apart, however, was theabsence of monarchies. In most ancient civilizations, control oversurplus wealth, symbols of power and military resources were concen-trated in the hands of an exclusive social elite. Supreme authority wassymbolically embodied in the person of the reigning monarch, who ruledwith the assistance of bureaucrats and court officials drawn from theranks of the elite. State propaganda affirmed the monarchy’s divinity ordivinely sanctioned authority. Within nearly every premodern society,monarchy proved the most stable and enduring state form, and in eachcase the principle of monarchical power was rarely questioned.

The key to understanding the Greeks, and what indeed made themunique, is not so much that they rejected the principle of monarchy,which they did emphatically, but the fact that sovereign authorityremained a matter of constant deliberation, which in turn led to novelpolitical experimentation.

Any discussion of the re-emergence of states in the Aegean mustbegin with the basileis (sing. basileus; social elites). It was this elementthat inevitably commandeered efforts to create state institutions, ifanything to safeguard and further develop their particular interests. Thearchaeological record clearly attests to an expanding elite. For much ofthe eighth century, inventories from gravesites reveal that the warriorclass enjoyed increasing material wealth, and most items recovered fromtemple sites also appear to symbolize the power and status of thebasileis, especially horse figurines. (Since only prosperous individuals

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could afford the luxury of a high-maintenance domesticated animal thathad limited use in agriculture, the horse was an item of luxury thatsymbolized elite exclusivity.)

Early Greek poetry gives us much insight into the mental universe ofthis rising elite. Most extant poems celebrate the divine calling of aris-

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tocrats and their warrior ethos. When it came to drafting law codes andinventing political systems, these kaloi (beautiful) people believed it wasvital that power be shared amongst fellow kaloi, but that they should alsorule on behalf of commoners or the kakoi (bad). The inferences regard-ing leadership and political responsibility are clear. In Homer’s epics,which are our fundamental source for aristocratic values in this period,the basileis claim privileged status by promoting their god-like nature,and commoners are expected to treat them with reverence and honourthem with gifts.

The basileis are a separate caste that could be distinguished by theirlifestyle. For example, the typical Greek aristocrat met his peers at agymnasium (gymnasion), where he exercised and competed nude in arange of sports (e.g. boxing, wrestling, running). Only the wealthy hadthe leisure to commit time and energy to training and participating inorganized games, such as the Olympics. The number and scale of thesecontests increased over time, and they attracted aristocratic participationfrom far and wide. Another peculiarly Greek practice was the sympo-sium. These were drinking parties that were held in an andron (men’sroom) and which involved a series of practices that included alcoholconsumption, entertainment, sex and intelligent conversation. Knowingthe correct ‘form’ in a symposium, advised the sixth century poetTheognis, was the mark of a well-bred aristocrat:

Drink with these men, and eat and sit with them, and court them, for theirpower is great. From them you will learn goodness. Men of little worth willspoil the natural quality of your birth.2

Typically, the ‘good’ and ‘beautiful’ identified much more with socialpeers from rival poleis than with their own commoners. Powerful bondswere established through intermarriage and a generous form of hospital-ity known as xeneia, which produced enduring interregional bonds thatwere meant to be as powerful as any blood relationship. Thus at onepoint in The Iliad, the basileis Diomedes and Glaucus meet on the battle-field but cannot fight because their fathers were tied by xeneia. The twoaffirm that bond by exchanging armour (6.119f.). Breaking the rules ofxeneia might incur divine retribution. Paris violated the hospitality ofMenelaus by running off with his wife, an indiscretion that precipitatedthe Trojan War.

Perhaps the key question in any examination of the early Greek aris-tocracy is why it failed to acquire the level of authority and power

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enjoyed by its Near Eastern counterparts. And why did the Greek poleisfail to develop into monarchies? First, Greek aristocrats were muchpoorer by comparison. The average basileus estate was tiny whencompared to that of an Egyptian provincial governor or a Persian noble-man. No single Greek aristocrat had the means to build a grand palace orhave a temple built in his name. And no aristocrat was meant to domi-nate his peers. Rather, the ‘beautiful’ were forced to share power, as ismade apparent in The Iliad. For ten years, the ‘kings’ are encampedoutside the walls of Troy, and they must function as a community inwhich all decisions require deliberation. Hierarchy certainly existsamong the basileis. Agamemnon is the most ‘kingly’ of kings (basileu-tatos), and Achilles holds a rank too low to be worthy of his daughter’shand. But when Agamemnon’s leadership is found wanting, Achilles canappeal to the authority of his peers.

Another factor that set Greek elites apart from their much richereastern contemporaries was the fact that the notion of hereditary author-ity had little purchase in Greek thinking. An aristocrat’s worth was meas-ured by his achievements, not his birth. Hence most elite practicesfeatured an agon (contest). Accomplishments on the battlefield were theultimate source of kudos, but there were other sources, including sport-ing competitions. The fame of the greatest athletes, such as Milo ofKroton, an Olympic champion on six occasions, endured into Romantimes. Poets, too, won esteem through competitions, as later wouldplaywrights. Esteem had to be earned; a basileus was engaged in a life-long agon to affirm his standing.

This competitive mode had profound implications for Greek stateformation. From the outset, that process featured compromises amongaristocrats that produced oligarchic systems of government. The politi-cal history of Archaic Greece (800–480 BC) is characterized by the deter-mination of aristocratic clans to uphold their authority throughconstitutional means, while trying to contain the aspirations of thecommoners. The patrician families of Corinth, for example, who wereknown collectively as the Bacchiads, jealously guarded all positions ofstate responsibility. At Athens, power was monopolized by the‘Eupatrids’ or ‘the well-born’. When Athens was threatened by publicdisorder in the 590s, an aristocrat named Solon was asked to draw up aconstitution that appeased the discontented commoners while guarantee-ing the power of his social peers. Lauded by some as the father ofdemocracy, Solon instituted a ‘timocracy’ (time meaning honour) inwhich political rights were based on strict property qualifications.

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POLIS AND COMMUNITY

Since power was always contested, the Greeks had to invent politics.Aristocrats seeking communal respect and authority were required tocompete for state offices, to use speech in order to persuade others oftheir entitlement and to undertake their state responsibilities underintense peer scrutiny. At the same time, however, competing aristocratsfaced pressure from the broader community, which also sought a stakein the political order. In essence, the political history of the early Greekcity-states was the search for institutional resolutions to competing eliteand non-elite interests.

Why were the aristocrats susceptible to pressure ‘from below’? Andhow did political struggles sometimes lead to the creation of suchcurious state systems as democracy? One well-subscribed argument hasit that changes in warfare had the effect of extending power to lowersocial levels. During the Archaic period, Greek warfare was transformedgradually from a rather primitive contest between chariot-riding warriorsand their personal retinues to carefully structured clashes between heavyinfantries that required numbers and great discipline. The propertiedmesoi (middling sort), namely non-aristocrats who could neverthelesssupply their own armour and weaponry, were arranged in a very tightand highly disciplined formation known as the phalanx. Each phalanxrequired every hoplite (‘armed one’) to cover the flank of the hoplite tohis right, and thus form a wall of shields. The formation consisted ofseveral rows that hurled their full weight in unison against an opposingphalanx. In this form of warfare, which remained the most elementaryfeature of Greek and Roman battles, collective discipline was funda-mental. One would expect, therefore, that the mesoi who formed thisnew hoplite class might seek a greater role in state decision-making orbe drawn into the conflicts between aristocratic factions.

Either way, military changes generated greater social involvement inpolitical life. Another reason for social inclusion was the sacrosanctvalue ascribed to the concept of koinos (community). If there was onepoint on which Greeks of all social classes had come to agree upon, itwas that community was a source of legitimacy, and that those in author-ity must serve the common interest. In Homer, hoi polloi (commoners)are not meant to speak when the basileis hold council, but they arepresent. For Hesiod, the basileis were entitled to positions of authorityso long as they served the community competently and honourably. Theideology of community was also reflected in the nature of hoplite

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warfare, which required of each hoplite to function in unison with fellowmembers of the koinos.

Legal developments are most illuminating on this score. As Archaiccommunities expanded and became more complex, the workings ofjustice became less arbitrary and less susceptible to the whims of person-ality. By the sixth century, the law became more transparent. The basileisgenerated law as an impersonal standard that was applicable to the entirecommunity. Thus, law codes were inscribed on walls for public knowl-edge and hence to make the law common property. Some of the earliestlaw inscriptions come from late seventh-century Tiryns, and these givedetails about magistracies and the mechanisms for checking the power ofthose holding office. The laws of Drakon of Athens (621 BC) were said tobe so harsh that they were written in blood. Among the most famouslawmakers of the age was Lykourgos of Sparta, whose ‘Great Rhetra’described the workings of the Spartan constitution. Another was Solon ofAthens, who opened up the Athenian political system to the lower socialorders. Each of these aristocratic lawgivers were caught in the tensionbetween upholding the authority of elites while ensuring that institutionsand laws ultimately served the interests of the koinos.

The ascendancy of the koinos over aristocratic exclusivity can bediscerned from the physical environment of each polis. Here, too, theGreeks invented something quite unique. The dominant feature of mostcities in the ancient world was the king’s palace, along with other monu-mental structures and shrines that symbolized his authority. All the greatmonuments of Egypt and Mesopotamia, such as the great temples, theziggurats, pyramids and tomb complexes, performed that role to somedegree. No Greek community could muster the resources needed toconstruct monuments of comparable scale. Rather, each polis erectedmuch smaller structures that reflected the interests of the community,including the archetypically Greek temple. The first stone temples wereconstructed in Corinth in a style known as ‘Doric’, with fluted columns,elaborate metopes and terracotta tiling. ‘Doric’ was quickly copied byCorinth’s neighbours in the Peloponnese and by the city-states of Ionia,the central Aegean coastal region of Asia Minor. Here, the Ionians soondeveloped their own style (‘Ionic’), which was distinguished principallyby the folding or rolled volute at the apex of each column. During thecourse of the Archaic period, aristocrats stopped arranging elaborateprivate tombs and found greater meaning through making endowmentsor contributions towards temple construction. Significantly, templeswere never associated with particular benefactors.

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Indeed everything about the polis and its physical environmentsymbolized ‘community’. The agora, for example, was much more thanjust a marketplace. It was a specifically designated public space thatserved as the focus of community governance, communications andfestive activity. All institutions and public meetings were located there.The new cities of southern Italy, such as Megara Hyblaia, were plannedaround an agora, while older cities like Athens had to clear space withinthe city precincts and place boundary markers to demarcate its limits.The planning of newer cities reflected the public interest in other impor-tant ways, such as in the equitable allotments of housing and the alloca-tion of space for public buildings such as temples, law courts and thebouleuterion (assembly house). Other public features included watersupply and waste disposal. Older cities, such as Smyrna in Asia Minor,orchestrated an urban overhaul by clearing the unplanned clusters ofhousing and creating a rational urban order.

Intense civic involvement and collaboration was required in the life ofevery polis. In warfare, we see a synergy of communal and aristocraticinterests. The semi-mythical Lelantine War (c.733 or 720 or 648 BC) mayhave been the last of the old style military encounters. The geographerStrabo notes that the Eritreans boasted 600 cavalrymen and 60 chario-teers,3 while Plutarch claims the Chalcidians won when an ally, aThessalian basileus named Kleomachos, routed the enemy cavalry byleading his own cavalry charge.4 When hoplite warfare became the norm,battles were seen as a contest between communities. Whereas the oldwarfare was individualistic and frenzied, the phalanx could only functionproperly if movements were synchronized and if each individual hoplitemaintained self-discipline. The phalanx therefore served as an analoguefor communal harmony. To retain their leadership of polis life, the aristo-crats had no choice but to find their place within the community. Inhoplite warfare, they claimed the front ranks of the phalanx, as thelegendary King Leonidas was to do at Thermopylae in 479 BC.

EARLY GREEK THOUGHT

Early political thought was conditioned by the conflicting values ofcommunity order and aristocratic competition, or, how to balance thespirit of agon and the desire for social harmony. Early Greek philosophyplaced a premium on self-control and moderation, or as one Delphicaphorism put it: ‘Nothing in excess’. An aristocrat had to accommodate

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the imperatives of personal honour with communal values by maintain-ing a sense of proportion (sophrosyne). While being trained from a veryyoung age to become elite warriors, Spartan youth were expected tocarry themselves with a measured decorum, to control their passions andinstincts. Aristocrats also believed agon could be tempered throughadherence to procedures. All city-state political systems invented anelaborate and strictly observed range of voting, decision-making andvetting practices.

In fact, process and method, in lieu of divine intervention, under-pinned all aspects of Greek thought. The Greeks developed frameworksthat gave thinkers free reign to ask questions about all phenomena, suchas the structure of the universe and the rules by which it operates. Ifauthority was a subject that was open to discussion, then so too waseverything else. If nature was deemed distinct from the supernatural,then nature itself had to be explained. What was its composition? Howdid it work? What were its origins?

Some answers proposed by the earliest thinkers might seem bizarre.Thus, the sixth-century thinker Thales believed the earth floated on water,and that earthquakes were a refraction of much wilder liquid tempestsunderneath. And yet what is significant about Thales’ theory is that thereis no reference to supernatural intervention. Secular theorization becamethe hallmark of an enduring culture of intellectual exchange in Thales’home town, Miletos, and the results would set the stage for an intellec-tual revolution in the fifth and fourth centuries. The mid-sixth-centurythinker Anaximander, another Milesian, wrote the first natural history oflife, as well as the first map that distinguished oceans and landmasses.His work on astronomy, in which he ventured a theory about the universeorbiting the earth, was also the first known book of prose. Yet anotherMilesian, Anaximenes (writing in the 520s), continued the discussion onthe composition of substances and how they transformed into new ones:in other words, how and what causes change. Of even greater moment inthe early history of science was the work of Pythagoras of Samos.Pythagoras used mathematics to understand celestial arrangements and toshow that the universe was a system governed by mathematicallysubstantiated laws. His famous theorem, which determines the length ofthe hypotenuse of a triangle, helped him establish an analytical frame-work for the kosmos or ‘ordered whole’.

Greek investigations into physis (nature) did not imply any principledsubscription to rationalism or secularism. The divine realm was impliedin Greek scientific thinking, even if it was kept firmly to one side. Thales

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reasoned that the gods were an expression of an ultimate god, whilePythagoras assumed the mechanics of the universe were a reflection ofthe divine. Xenophanes of Kolophon went so far as to apply his under-standing of nature to the metaphysical realm, and reasoned that there wasonly one god. Rational inquiry was in no sense considered blasphemous,and it was to remain a standard feature of Greek education throughoutantiquity and well into the Byzantine era.

Why so much intellectual achievement in one region? Why Ionia? Theshort answer is that Ionian poleis were more tightly connected withbroader Mediterranean networks, and therefore more exposed to thetransmission of ideas and culture. The Ionian poleis of Asia Minor alsobordered on Lydia, a sophisticated non-Greek kingdom through whichIonian thinkers absorbed a good deal of Near Eastern thinking on math-ematics and astronomy. It was via the Ionians that the rest of the Greekworld came to adopt the Lydian invention of coinage. The easternGreeks were also responsible for inventing hoplite warfare and thetrireme, the archetypal Greek naval vessel.

The Ionian spirit of invention extended to the arts, particularly poetry.Ionia produced Homer, whose epics remained the primary reference forvalues and moral education, and Sappho of Lesbos, perhaps the greatestfemale poet of antiquity. Overall, the Ionians set the pace when it cameto intellectual and cultural matters. When it came to politics, however,the most creative experiments were taking place in Greece proper.

TYRANNY AND ITS ALTERNATIVES (C.650–500 BC)

By the latter half of the seventh century, the Greek city-state faced itsfirst significant challenge. Wealth disparities had widened significantlyand indebtedness among the poor was becoming a major source ofcommunal discord. In these troubled times the polis become susceptibleto a new kind of ‘strong man’.

The first case of one-man rule or ‘tyranny’ arose in the wealthy city ofCorinth. Positioned near the isthmus that joined the Peloponnese withthe mainland, the Corinthians had privileged access to the Ionian andAegean seas and spawned some of the largest settlements in Italy. Theruling patrician families of Corinth, the Bacchiads, grew rich by‘exploiting harbour trade without limit’,5 but ruled their fellowCorinthians as if they were kings. In 657, a Bacchiad ‘black sheep’named Kypselos seized power and was said to have enjoyed popular

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support. Indeed, so popular was Kypselos that he ruled for three decadesand was known for not requiring bodyguards. In 625 he was succeededby his son, Periander, who ruled for an even longer period (to 585), buthis arbitrary style of rule made him progressively unpopular. Thedynasty ended a mere three years after Periander’s death, when hisnephew Psammetichos was overthrown in a popular uprising, followingwhich oligarchic rule was restored.

Other tyrants of note included Polykrates of Samos, who was respon-sible for Pythagoras’ flight to southern Italy; Pheidon of Argos, who isdescribed as a king as well as a tyrant, possibly because he needed thesupport of hoplites; and Orthagoras of Sikyon, who was succeeded byhis son Myron, but who was then overthrown by another tyrant namedKleisthenes (c.600). Tyrants sought to entrench their personal authorityby securing popular assent. Thus, Periander earned praise for his build-ing activity and for patronizing festivals, as did the tyrants who ruledAthens for much of the second half of the sixth century. It could be saidthat tyranny was a form of early kingship, but, as it happened, no tyrantmanaged to launch a durable dynasty. Crucially, the tyrants failed tosecure aristocratic support or suppress all opposition. In turn, aristocratsfound tyranny to be a humiliating experience and thereafter deemed anyform of arbitrary authority anathema. In fact, the mere threat of tyrannyled some poleis to create quite novel political systems. The mostrenowned cases were those of Sparta and Athens.

Of all the Greeks, the Romans admired the Spartans most. For Spartaachieved social equilibrium at home and yet managed to be Greece’sgreatest military power. The Romans could relate to Sparta’s ostensiblebalance of monarchical, aristocratic and popular interests in its constitu-tional arrangements. By securing the homefront, the Spartans were freeto exercise military domination over their neighbours. In its classic form,the Spartan political system featured two kings or basileis drawn fromtwo separate dynasties (the Agiads and Eurypontids). The basileis ledtheir fellow Spartiates on campaign and managed judicial and religiousfunctions at home. Kings were expected to rule with the gerousia, liter-ally a council of ‘elders’ (members were over 60), who were the arbitersof the law. The conduct of kings and the gerousia was monitored by fiveannually elected ephors (overseers), while government decisions madeby the gerousia required the approval of an assembly, which consisted ofall Spartan men over the age of 30. Stringent checks and balances weremeant to minimize change. The Spartan assembly, for example, the

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supposedly democratic feature of the constitution, was not allowed todeliberate or amend the gerousia’s proposals.

By securing stability at home the Spartans sought to dominate theGreek world. To this end, they created a professional standing army. AllSpartan boys were taken from their families at a young age, raised inbarracks and drilled in the arts of warfare. The supremely disciplinedSpartan phalanx became unbeatable. With it, they were also able to forceneighbours to join a military league dominated by Sparta. To support itsprofessional army, however, Spartan society committed itself to a rathercallous social experiment. Sometime in the ninth century they forced theperiokoi (surrounding inhabitants) to perform most of the other rolesrequired of a properly functioning society (e.g. merchants, craftsmen,builders), while sometime during the latter half of the eighth century thepopulation of the neighbouring region of Messenia was reduced toslavery. Spartan society came to depend completely on a vast helot (serf)population for its primary production, while at the same time becomingparanoid about the prospect of a serf revolt. Ironically, keeping the helotsin check became the essential purpose of the professional army. Thatparanoia worsened over time, as the helot population expanded andSpartan numbers contracted.

The Athenian search for a stable political order followed a differentpath. Since the seventh century, this search had been driven by the needto end aristocratic feuding and growing social disparities. Socialviolence was avoided in 594, when Solon was entrusted to draw up anew constitution. Solon’s motives were to provide equal justice to the‘bad’ (kakoi) and the ‘good’ (agathoi), and therefore he enacted changesthat guaranteed every male landholder a share in political power: ‘I gaveto the people as much privilege as is sufficient for them, not detractingfrom their honour or reaching out to take it.’6

Solon’s reforms failed to secure civic stability, for in 546 BC anotheraristocrat named Peisistratus became tyrant after two failed attempts. Heand his sons ruled Athens for the next 36 years, during which time theytried to entrench their authority by promoting festivals and inventing newcivic traditions. In 510, however, the tyranny collapsed and Athens wasagain consumed in aristocratic feuding. In the summer of 508,Kleisthenes, a seasoned political figure, proposed that power be sharedbetween all Athenians, regardless of class or property qualifications. Hismotives were probably driven by political self-interest rather than princi-ple, but the effect of his reforms was to institute a form of ‘people power’or demokratia (democracy). To put into effect the kinds of reforms and

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institutional frameworks required, Kleisthenes reorganized Attica into aseries of equal-sized constituencies known as a ‘demes’. The aim was tobreak the influence of kinship or tribal loyalties and have people identifyinstead with their local deme. The state also required citizen involvementin the deliberations and execution of state power.

Therefore, in Sparta and in Athens, the questions ‘who has power?’and ‘who governs?’ led to wildly different solutions. Governance waseffectively handed over to the community itself, although membership ofthat community, or ‘citizenship’, was restricted to adult males. Suchconstitutional experimentation had the effect of reinforcing the notion ofthe community as a sovereign entity, and polis-dwelling Greeks came torecognize that notion as being uniquely Greek.

HELLAS

But what did it mean to be Greek? When did Greeks begin to see them-selves as ‘Greeks’ (Hellenes)? When did they become a self-consciousgroup? Thus far we have described the making of a coherent culturebased in Greece but which also transcended much of the Mediterraneanworld. It is impossible to tell, however, when members of that culturebecame a self-conscious entity. We can trace ‘Greek’ culture deep intothe Bronze Age, but the mere existence of these traits does not presup-pose Greek ethnic consciousness.

The consensus among scholars nowadays is that ‘Greekness’ or‘Hellenism’ was constituted historically. The fifth-century historianThucydides understood this perfectly well. In the first chapter of hisfamous History, he noted the near absence of the word ‘Hellas’ in Homer’sepics, which led him to conclude that Greek consciousness was developedsometime after. In contrast to modern-day nationalists, who see ethnicityas a timeless essence, he reasoned that collective identity was generatedthrough ongoing contact between the Greek communities (1.3.1–3).

It is certainly true that later Greeks developed myths in order toexplain their own origins, but these myths were inventions and are ofvery little value as historical sources. Tracing the etymology of the termHellas (Greece) does not get us very far. In The Iliad it is designated asa specific part of Thessaly, and in The Odyssey it is also applied to themainland. For the late-seventh-century poet Alkman, the term doesappear to cover all the Greeks: he refers to the kidnapping of Helen byParis as having slighted Hellas. Overall, the scarcity of ‘Hellas’ and

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‘Hellenes’ in the archaic literature suggests there was little interest in, orneed for, a collective ethnic term; but the mere existence of the term doessuggest some interest in the concept.

Tracing the objective conditions that made Greek ethnogenesis possi-ble is relatively easy. We have already mentioned the likelihood thatelites across the Greek world subscribed to a common culture during the‘dark age’, and that for the Archaic Era we have detailed knowledge ofa transregional aristocratic lifestyle, which included participation in‘Panhellenic’ (all-Greek) festivals such as the Olympic Games. It iscertainly true that participants had to be ‘Greek’, subject to a strict ethniclineage test, and yet while the traditional launch of the Olympics is 776BC, we only know about the application of the test in Classical times.None of these developments could determine the making of an ethnicidentity, but we do see the accumulation throughout the Archaic periodof a common set of cultural traits that were shared among theMediterranean’s Greek-speakers, particularly among the poleis. Thepolis as an urban form, and the ‘way of life’ associated with being amember of a polis, later came to dominate thinking about who was, orwho was not, a Hellene.

And yet, determining when and why Hellas eventually became impor-tant in Greek thinking is difficult. A standard argument has it thatHellenism was promoted through Delphi, the most important pilgrimagecentre in the Greek world, while a recent argument ascribes that role toOlympia and the increasing popularity of its games. Ethnic conscious-ness often arises when a given culture is under challenge. It may be that‘Greekness’ was articulated first among the overseas colonies of Italy orthe Black Sea, where settlers engaged more directly with hostile indige-nous peoples, such as the Sicels of Sicily. Here, the compulsion to define‘self’ was greater than in Old Greece, where the existence of smallgroups of indigenous non-Greeks, like the Pelasgians and Dryopes, wasof little account. Elsewhere, Greek settlers were probably always in theminority, and it was in the overseas settlements like Megara Hyblaiawhere greater effort was expended in creating cities that were quintes-sentially Greek in appearance.

As is often the case, ethnicity is constituted most effectively in timesof war. In the Greek world, Hellenism achieved a newfound resonanceduring a desperate struggle against Persia, a foreign power that threat-ened to overtake the Greek world. It was at the beginning of the fifthcentury, during which time an alliance of Greek poleis staged a heroicwar of resistance against Persia, that Hellenism was probably born.

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Abbasid Caliphate 111–12, 114, 122Abu Bakr 110Achaea, Achaeans 51, 70, 71, 74, 75,

87; Roman province 82, 87–8; Latinprincipality 137, 139, 141

Acropolis (Athens) 1, 41, 42, 87, 199Adrianople 84, 91, 118, 129, 139, 139,

146, 162 (see also Edirne)Adrianople Treaty of, 175Aegean, Aegean Islands ix, 1, 3, 4, 6, 7,

9, 12–13, 14, 15, 23, 30, 36, 38, 52,61, 64, 66, 70, 96, 99, 114, 115, 143,152, 157, 172, 192, 194, 217

Aegina 30, 35Aelius Aristides 78, 79, 84, 85, 92, 93, 95Aeneas 80, 81Aeschylus 29, 32, 33, 39, 52, 184Aetolia, Aetolians 13, 51, 70, 71, 73, 74,

75, 76Afghanistan 59, 60, 61, 64Agathangelos 164Agesilaos II 49, 50Aghios Efstratios 199agon 18, 21, 22agrafa 2, 160Aï Khanum 64Agis II 45Akropolis (journal) 184Akrotiri 5, 7Alamanikon (German tax) 134Albania, Albanians 143, 151, 157, 159,

160, 164, 170, 176, 183, 199, 205Alcibiades 45Alexander (III) the Great ix, 54, 55,

57–60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 67, 69, 70, 71,109, 155

Alexander I (Russian tsar) 171

Alexander V (Pope) 154Alexandria (Egypt) 64, 65, 66, 67, 68,

69, 81, 100, 107, 110, 129, 161, 162,177, 179, 190

Alexios I Komnenos 124–5, 127Alexios II Komnenos 133Alexios III Angelos, 134 135, 139Ali Pasha (of Tepelen) 160, 166, 171,

172Alkman 26Alp Arslan 124amazons 16Ambelakia 169Ambrose of Milan 97Amorion 116, 117Amphipolis 35, 43, 103Anastasius I 102, 105, 106Anatolia 1,2, 3, 4, 6, 36, 61, 64, 65, 69,

76, 99, 102, 112, 113, 110, 113, 117,121, 122, 124, 125, 127, 134, 139, 143,144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 151, 159,169, 192, 193–5

Anaximenes 22Andronikos I Komnenos 133Andronikos II Palaiologos 142–3Andronikos III Palaiologos 144–5Andronikos IV Palaiologos 147Androutsos, Odysseus 172Ankyra (Ankara) 116, 118, 138, 159, 163Anna Comnena 130Antigonos II Gonatas 61Antigonos III 71Antigonos Monophthalmos 60Antioch 62, 64, 81, 91, 111, 122, 127,

138, 161Antiochos III 74Antiochos IV 74

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Antipater 69Antoninus Pius 86Aphrodisias 83, 91, 103, 111Apokaukos, (Grand Duke) 145Appian 84Apollonios of Kertimos 85Apulia 154Arabia 99, 110Aratos of Sikyon 70, 71Arcadia, Arcadians 9, 13, 48, 50, 51Archidamus II 43Archimedes 68Areopagos 35, 85Areus 71Argentina 171Argos 5, 24, 37, 49, 55, 71, 83, 96, 173,

177Aristophanes 30, 29, 39, 42Aristotle 40, 47, 51, 70, 73Armenia, Armenians 62, 91, 99, 122,

151, 156, 170, 195Arrian 58, 59, 84Arsenios (Patriach) 142art, Greek sculpture 14, 29, 33, 40–1,

48, 53, 64, 68, 80, 89, 154Ashoka (Mauryan ruler) 64, 67Asia Minor Catastrophe 194–5, 197Asia Minor region 20, 21, 23, 29, 30,

48, 49, 53, 54, 57, 65, 74, 78, 82–3,84, 86, 89, 92, 110, 141, 194–5

Assyria 8Athens 1, 5, 13, 62, 91, 116, 138, 162;

Classical city-state 18, 20, 21, 24,25–26, 29, 30–31, 34, 36–50, 51, 53;Hellenistic and Roman city 67, 68,70, 72, 78, 80, 81, 85, 86, 87, 88, 90,97, 98, 102, 105; Byzantine andFrankish Athens 120, 129, 137, 145;Ottoman Athens 158; modern Athens168, 169, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181,183, 184, 186, 188, 189–90, 193,196–7, 199, 203, 208, 211, 213, 216–17

Athens, Duchy of 137, 138, 145Attalids of Pergamon 65, 68Attica 2, 13, 26, 30, 37, 43, 45, 112,

137, 157, 176, 189Augustus Caesar, (also Octavian) 75,

76, 77, 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 88, 107, 153

Aurelian 96Auschwitz 202Australia 206, 208, 191, 215, 218, (see

also Sydney, Melbourne)Austria 167, 170, 175, 193Avars 108, 109Averoff, Giorgios 179ayans 166, 171, 173

Babylon 58, 59, 62, 65, 67Bacchiads 23–4Baghdad 112, 163Bahrain 64Baiunetes 112Baldwin I 136, 137Baldwin II 141 Balkans 1, 2, 4, 52, 56, 89, 95, 103, 108,

109, 111, 118, 125, 127, 133, 134, 144,145, 146, 148, 157, 159–60, 161, 165,166, 167, 169, 171, 173, 185, 191, 192,216

Balkan Wars 191–2Bardas Phokas 122Bardas Skleros 122Basil of Caesaria 101basileis (Iron age elites) 15–19, 24, 55,

60, 67Bassae (Temple of Apollo) 35, 48Bayezid I 146, 147Bayezid II 149Bel Dusares (temple) 86Bela III 128Belegezites 112Belisarius 107Benakis, Panayiotis 166Beneventum, battle of 73Berzetes 112Bessarion of Trebizond 149, 154Bithynia 46, 62, 82, 83Blachernae Palace 135, 141, 150,body culture 14, 29, 33, 40–1, 44, 48,

53, 72, 154 Bostrain 86Boulgaros of Samos 69, 162, 178Brazil 191Britain 52, 58, 199, 201, 202–3, 179,

194, 195, 205, 209, 217, 218, 156, 175,185, 193, 199

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Bronze Age Aegean 4–9, 26Brown, Peter 112Bucharest 160, 162, 190Bulgaria, Bulgarians 122, 123, 134, 139,

140, 141, 148, 151, 156, 157, 159, 161,164, 170, 178, 185–6, 191, 192, 196,199, 205

Bulgars 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 119,120, 122, 123, 133, 139

Byron, Gordon George (Lord) 173Byzantion (Byzantium) 14, 35, 36, 62,

91, 98

Caecilius Metellus Creticus 75Caffa 151Cairo 111, 163Calabria 110, 154, 159, 162Caliphate, (see Umayyad Caliphate and

Abbasid Caliphate)Canada 208, 215Candia (Herakleion, Iraklion) 155Cannae, battle of 73Capodistrias, Ioannis 170, 175, 177Cappadocia 121, 148Carthage 61, 80, 107, 109, 113Cassius Dio 84Catalan Grand Company 143, 145Cato, Marcus Porcius (the Elder) 80Cavafy, C. P. xCerigo (Kythera) 183Cesme 192Chalandriani 5, 6Chania 154, 178, 216Charlemagne 105Charles of Anjou 141chettes 194Chios 97, 152, 162, 171, 176Choniates, Niketas 136, 140Chremonidian War 70Cilicia 122Classical heritage, Greek ix–x, 28, 29,

38, 52, 64, 68–9, 95, 100, 101, 106,107, 111, 117, 130–1, 153–4, 160, 168,183, 184; Latin 80–1, 98

Claudiopolis 86Claudius Aeliamus 93Claudius Herodes Atticus 84, 85, 89Colossus of Rhodes 70

Constans II 112, 113Constantine I (King of Greece) 192, 193Constantine I (the Great) x, 98, 99, 100,

105, 107, 132, 136, 141Constantine II (King of Greece) 209–10,

211Constantine V (emperor) 114–15, 119Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos 122, Constantine VIII (emperor) 123Constantine IX Monomachos 126Constantine XI Palaiologos 150–1, 165,

192Constantinople 14, 102, 105, 106–7,

109, 110, 111, 113, 117, 116, 118, 123,124, 125, 128–9, 130, 132, 133, 135–7,138, 139, 140–2, 143, 145, 146, 147,148, 149–51, 156, 159, 161, 162, 164, 165, 169, 170, 171, 173, 175,179–80

Constantinople, Treaty of 175Cordoba 99, 111, 129Corfu (see Kerkyra)Corinth Canal 182Corinth, Corinthians xi, 6, 14, 18, 20,

23, 31, 37, 43, 8, 49, 54, 62, 70, 71,75, 80, 85, 96, 103, 116, 119, 129, 173,177, 178

Corinthian orde 48Coron (Koroni) 152Corsica 182Costoboci 95Crete 2, 6–7, 53, 75, 119, 137, 152, 155,

156, 157, 165, 173, 176, 179, 185, 191,192, 199,

Cretan Renaissance 155Croatia 122Crusades 125, 127, 129, 130, 132, 140,

141, 146, 147; First 125–6; Third133–4; Fourth 134–6, 137, 139, 140;Crusade of Varna 148

Cumans 124Cyclades 2, 3, 6, 35, 137, 157, 119, 137,

157, 176Cyprus 9, 12, 36, 61, 63, 122, 133, 134,

137, 148, 152, 157, 163, 211–13, 217,218

Cynoscephalae, battle of 74Cyrus 29

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Damascus 111Damaskinos, Michael 155Dandolo, Enrico 135Danube frontier 108–9, 112, 123, 175Darius III 58, 59Dekasti 205Dekembriana 209, 203Deliyannis, Theodoros 185Delphi 5, 14, 21, 27, 65Delos 35, 36, 37Delian League 36, 40democracy, demokratia 18, 19, 29, 33,

38, 42, 45, 46, 47, 67, 85; modernGreek democracy 206, 207, 213, 217

Demosthenes 52Derinkuyu 121Despotate of Epiros, (see Epiros)devshirme 153diaspora 159, 167, 177, 191, 206, 215,

218Digenis Aktrites 130Dio Chrysostom (Cocceianus) 86, 87,

93Diocletian 97–8, 107, 113Dodecanese Islands 176, 178, 195Donation Law 177Dorians 12–13Doric order 20, 20Doric dialect 12–13, 88Doukas family 124, 125, 139Dragastani, battle of 171Drako 20Drugubites 112Drypoes 27dynatoi 121, 122, 125Dyrrachion (Dyrrachium) 116, 138, 139

EAM 201–3, 205, 207Edessa (Syria) 111Edirne 84, 146, 148 (see also

Adrianople)Education, paideia 23, 39, 43, 47, 56,

65–6, 71, 79, 88, 92, 98, 99, 100, 107,117, 130, 131, 153, 159, 160, 166–7,169, 170; modern education 209,210, 214, 217, 218

EEC 211Efimeris 167

Egypt 2, 4, 7, 8, 15, 18, 20, 30, 38, 60,62–3, 66, 68, 69, 71, 75, 76, 88, 97,101, 104, 110, 111, 129, 166, 173, 175,180, 199

Ecbatana 59eksynchronismos 216ELAS 202–3Ellis Island 190Enlightenment 29, 30, 156Enosis 211–12Entente Cordiale 193Ephesos 5, 62, 69, 91, 110, 118, 138Epidauros 172Epiros 3, 13, 56, 71, 73, 79, 87, 157,

160, 179, 192; Despotate of Epiros138, 139–40, 141, 142, 144

Eratosthenes 68Erinyes 40Eritrea (Greek city) 30Ermoupolis 177Erotokritos 155Ethnikos Dichasmos (National Schism)

193–4EU 214, 215Euboea 5, 12, 14, 35, 37, 178Euclid 68Eudokia 103Eumenes II 65Eupatrids 18Euripides 21, 39, 46, 52Eurmyedon, battle of 36, 137European Commission 215Eustathios of Thessaloniki 130Evros River 175

Famagusta 213Fatimids of Egypt 129Favronius 93‘Feast of Orthodoxy’ 117Filipinos 218Flamininus, Titus Quinctius 74, 80Florence, Council of 147Foça 154 (see also Phokaia)France 152, 156, 175, 185, 193, 199,

175, 181, 183, 194Franchthi Cave 3, 5Frankish states 137, 140, 145, 148, 152,

157

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French Revolution 166, 167–8, 169–70,173

Fulcher of Chartres 128FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia) 178, 217

Gaddafi, Mu’ammer 211Gaius Verres 77Galen 84Gallic invasion of 280 BC 70Gallipoli 145–6, 162, 178gastarbeiter 208Gaugamela, battle of 58Gaul 92, 95Gennadios Scholarios 150Genoa, Genoese 135, 143, 150, 152Geoffrey Villehardouin 128George I (King of Greece) 181, 185, 192George II (King of Greece) 198, 203Georgia, Georgians 122, 130, 159Germanos II (Patriarch) 140Germany 199, 218, 193Goldhill, Simon 29Gordian III 83Göreme 121Goths 96, 101–2Gounaris, Demetrios 197graecomania 89, 79, 80, 81, 87, 95, 97Granicus, battle of 57, 59Great Altar of Pergamon 69Great Dionysia (festival) 32Great Library of Alexandria 65Greek Church, Greek Orthodoxy 100,

106, 114–18, 131, 133, 136, 137, 140,142, 147, 149, 153, 164, 214, 216

Greek Civil War 201–6Greek Communist Party (see KKE) Greek diaspora (see diaspora)Greek fire 113Greek language 6, 8–9, 13, 15, 29,

55–6, 64, 65–6, 67, 79, 89, 92–3, 98,99, 102, 104, 106, 118, 140, 157, 159,160, 169–70, 184, 186, 190,

Greek Radical Union, 207Greek Rally 207Greek religion (pagan) 9, 13, 23, 32, 39,

54, 59, 61, 66, 67, 72, 85, 94, 100–1,103, 117

Greek War of Independence 170–5Greek merchant marine 151, 107, 166,

177,Greek script 15, (see also Linear B)Grevena 202

Hadrian 85, 86, 88, 89, 93, 95, 103, 111,156

Hagia Sophia 107, 129, 136, 137, 150Halet Efendi 171Halikarnassos 14, 35, 53Hannibal 73–4, 96hegemonia 33, 36, 49, 50, 56, 70–1,

74Hellas, Hellenes x, 26–7, 28, 31–3, 41,

92–3, 140, 168, 173, 178 (see also‘identity’)

Hellenic Library 169helots 25, 36, 37, 50Helsinki Watch 217Henry VI (Holy Roman Emperor) 134Heraclea, battle of 73Heraclius 109–10, 114Heraklides Pontikos 73Herodotus x, 14, 15, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33,

51, 53, 55Herrenius Dexippus, Publius 96Hesiod 2, 19, 101Hierocles 102Hipparchos, 68Hippocrates of Kos 32–3Hippodamian urban planning 21, 27, 48,

53, 61, 64, 65, 69, 86, 108Hippodrome 105, 129, 139Homer, Homeric epics ix, 1, 2, 8, 12,

13, 17, 19, 23, 26, 55, 56, 58, 60, 67,88, 98, 101, 130, 168

hoplites 16, 19–20, 21, 23, 24, 30–1, 43,50, 74

Horace 81hospodars 164, 171Huns 101–2

Ioannides, Demetrios 211, 212–13, 214Ibrahim Pasha 173Iconium (Ikonion, Konya) 84, 116, 159,

163Iconoclasm 114–18, 141

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identity x, 26–7, 64, 66, 73, 93, 133,159–60

Iktinos 40Iliad 17, 18, 26, 41, (see also Homer)Illyria 56, 57, 98, 106India 52Indo-European language 6Indo-Greek Kingdoms 61, 64, 67Indus Valley 29, 52, 58, 60, 61Innocent III (Pope) 134, 136Ioannina (Yanina) 160, 162, 178Ionian Islands 1, 119, 152, 157, 179Ionian Greeks 20, 22–3, 30, 49Ionic dialect 12–13Ionic order 20, 53Ipsilantis, Alexander 169, 171Ipsos, battle of 60Iron Duke, British destroyer 175Isaac Angelos 133–4Isis 67Islamic culture 146, 151, 153, 165, 166,

168, 169, 110–11, 117, 124Issus, battle of 57Istanbul 14, 178, 212Italy, Italians 1, 23, 73, 79, 92, 102, 107,

108, 128, 153, 155, 159, 195; Greeksin Italy 2, 14, 21, 24, 27, 112, 123,124, 125, 152, 153, 154

Ithaca 5, 8

Jerome 98Jerusalem 66, 67, 91, 106, 161, 163Jews 67–8, 111, 129, 149, 151, 157,

192, 202John (King of England) 134John I Tzimiskes 122, 131John II Komnenos 127John V Palaiologos 147John Vatatzes (Nicaean emperor) 140John VI Kantakouzenos 144, 145, 147John VII Palaiologos 147John VIII Palaiologos 147–8John of Damascus 111, 117John the Lydian 107Julian 97, 100, 101Julio-Claudian Dynasty 89Julius Caesar 76, 77Justin I 102

Justin II 108Justinian I 102, 106–8, 119, 123, 132

Kalamata 166, 171, 172, 176Kalavryta 172, 174, 178, 202Kalindoia 85Kalliergis, Zacharias 154Kallikrates 40Kallipolis 45Kamateros, Leo 137Kanaris, Constantine 172Kanellopoulos, Panayiotis 210kapetanoi (warrior chiefs) 161, 171,

172–3, 175, 179Karamanlis, Constantine 207, 209, 210,

213, 214Karamanlis, Kostas 217Karia 14, 35, 53Kassander 60Kastri 6katharevousa ix, 169–70, 184–5, 186,

210Kaved 109Kaymakli 121Kayseri 159Kazantzakis, Nikos xKea 199, 184Kemal Mustafa (Ataturk) 194Kerkyra (Corfu) 11, 43, 46, 139, 178Khurso II 109Kimon 36, 37King’s Peace 49Kissinger, Henry 213KKE 198, 199, 201, 202, 205, 206, 207,

213, 215Kleisthenes, Corinthian tyrant 24;

Athenian politician 25–6, 38Kleitos 59Kleomachos 21Kleomenes I 30Kleomenes III 71Kleon 43klephts 161, 170Kos 35, 48Knidos 48Knights Hospitaller St John 152Knossos 5, 6–7, 35koçabasis 166, 168, 170, 172, 175, 179

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Koine 65–6, 92–3, 99, 101, 111koinos 19–20, 67koinotita 160–1, 179, 188, 190Kolettis, Ioannis 179–81Kolokotronis, Theodoros 161, 164–5,

169, 172Konya (Iconium) 159Koraïs, Adamantios 169Kos xi, 32, 48Kournaros, Vitsentzos 155Krannon, battle of 69Krum, Bulgar khan 115, 119Kyme (Cumae) 14, 34Kypselos, Corinthian tyrant 23–4Kythera 152, 178, 184

Laiou, Angeliki 135Lambrakis, Giorgos 209Lamian War 70Lancaster, Pennsylvania 190Laocoön and his sons (Hellenistic sculp-

ture) 72Larissa 157Last Glacial Maximum 3Latin Church 99–100, 127, 134, 136,

137, 146, 147, 152Latin Empire of Constantinople 136–7,

139, 140–1, 142Latin Kingdom of Cyprus 152Latin language 80, 81, 89, 98–9, 100,

102Latins (Franks) 124, 125, 127, 128, 129,

132–3, 134, 136, 137, 139–49, 141,146, 147, 149

League of Corinth 54Leake, William Martin 167League of Nations 196Lefkhandi 5, 12Lelakaon, battle of 121Lelantine War 21Leo I 102Leo III 114–15Leo V 117Leo VI 118Leo Sgouros 137Leo the Mathematician 117, 131Leo the Wise 164Leo von Klenze (German architect) 178

Leonardo da Vinci 154Leonidas 21, 28, 31, 32Leotychidas 36Lepanto (see Naupaktos)Lerna (House of Tiles) 5Lesbos 23, 45, 152Leuktra, battle of 49–50Levant, (see Near East)Liberal Party 187, 191Linear B 7, 8–9Lombard League 128London 159, 177London Convention (1832) 175Lowell, Massachusetts 190Lucian 89, 92Lusignans of Poitou 137, 152 Libya 211, 14Lyceum Academy 47, 88Lyon, Council of 141Lydia 30, 33Lysander 45, 49

Macedonia region 13, 28, 33, 62, 91,119, 133, 137, 143, 157, 162, 178, 179;kingdom 52, 54, 55–7, 58–9, 60–1,67, 69–71, 73–74, 80, 85; under theOttomans 185–6; Greek province of192, 194, 196, 199, 215

Macedonian Greek 56Macedonian Revolt 66Maeander River 138, 141Magnesia 74Makarezos, Nikos 210makedononmachoi 186Makryiannis, Ioannis 173Malalas, John 108Malia 5, 7Massalia (Marseille) 12Malta, Maltese 166Mani, 161 162Manuel I Komnenos 127, 128, 132, 133,

134Manuel II Palaiologos 147Manuel Kantakouzenos 147Manzikert, battle of 124Maria of Antioch 133Marathon, battle of 30, 31Marcomanni, Germanic group 95

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Marcus Agrippa 88Marcus Aurelius 82, 93, 95Mardonius (Persian general) 31Maria (Gülbahar), mother of Selim I

149Mark Anthony 86Marmara, Sea of 143, 159, 178Marshall Plan 205Mathiopoulos, Pavlos 189Manthopoulou, Maria 201Maurice (emperor) 108–9Mausoleum of Galerius 103Mausoleum 53Mausolus 53Mavromihalis, Giorgios 172Medici, Cosimo de 153Megali Idea 180, 181, 184 185, 191,

192, 193, 195, 197Megara 37, 43Megara Hyblaia 21, 27, 35Mehmet I 147Mehmet II 148, 150–1, 212Melbourne 206Melissenos family 125Melos 2, 3, 5, 36, 42, 46Memphis 67Menander I 67Menander II 67Mesih Pasha 151Messenia 50Mesopotamia 2, 4, 20, 58, 60, 64, 67,

109, 110Metaxas, Ioannis 198–9, 207Methana 43metapolitefsi 213–18metropoleis 86, 97Metternich, Prince Klemens von 175Michael Doukas 139Michael Doukas 139Michael II Angelos 140Michael VIII Palaiologos 132, 140–2,

143Michelangelo 154Milan 154Miletos 22, 35Minoan culture 6–8Mistra 138, 149Mithradates of Pontus 75, 78

Mitsotakis, Costas 215–16Modon (Methoni) 152Moesia 160Muhammad Ali of Egypt 166,173Moisiodax, Iospos 160Moldavia 162, 164, 171Monemvasia 112, 120, 129, 152, 162Mongols 147Monophysites 110Monotheletism 112Montenegro 191Morea, Despotate of 148, 149Mosul 111Mouseion 65Mousouros, Markos 153Mt Athos 30, 161, 162, 178Mt Pelion 161Murat I 146Murat II 147–8Murat Pasha 151Mussolini, Benito 202, 198, 199Mycenaeans 7–9, 12–13Myron 24

Nafplion 162, 173Nansen, Fridtjof 196 Naples (Neapolis) 14, 34, 108, 116, 141Napoleonic Wars 170, 173National People’s Liberation Front (see

ELAS)National Army 205NATO 215Naupaktos (Lepanto) 116, 119, 152, 162Navarino, battle of 175Naxos 36, 137, 138, 162, 178Naxos, Duchy of 137Nea Demokratia 213Near East 4, 6, 7, 9, 12–13, 14, 18, 23,

29, 52, 61, 77, 110, 125, 153, 173Nefertiti 8Neolithic 3–4Nero 89, 93Nestor 9New York 190Nicholas I (Russian tsar) 175Nicaea 118, 138, 139, 143, 154Nicaea, Empire of 138, 139–41, 142Nicomedia 91, 97, 98, 143, 152

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Nicopolis 89, 91Nicosia 213Nika Riots 107Nike of Samothrace 68Nikephoros I 115–16, 119Nikias 43–4, 93Nikias, Peace of 43Normans 123–5, 133, 135North Africa (Roman province) 97,

107Notaras, Loukas, (Grand Duke) 151

Odessa 167, 170, 190Odyssey 8, 26, (see also Homer)oikoumene (Greek) x, 132–3, 142,

148–9, 153, 154, 155, 157–60, 166–7,168–9, 170, 190–1

Orhan I 143, 145Ohrid 129, 138, 160, 161, 178Oil Crisis of 1973 211oliganthropia 87Olympian Zeus (temple) 88, 94, 95Olympias (Alexander’s mother) 60Olympic Games, ancient 17, 18, 27, 55;

modern 179, 184Onassis, Aristotle ixOrthagoras (tyrant of Sikyon) 24Osman I 143, 144Ossius of Cordoba 99Ostrogoths 105, 108Otho (King of Greece) 175, 179–80Ottoman Empire 143–53, 154, 155, 156,

157, 159, 160–73, 175, 176, 177, 179,180, 185, 186, 190, 191–2, 193, 194–5

Ottonians (Holy Roman Emperors) 127,128

Padua 153, 154Pakistan 59, 64Palmyra 86Pamuk, Orhan 212Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement (see

PASOK)Panathenaia 41Panathenaic Games 85Panthenaic Stadium 179Panhellenism 27, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59,

65, 70, 71, 73, 74, 89, 95

Papacy 99–100, 105, 123, 125, 127,134, 136, 141–2, 154

Papadopoulos, George 210–11, 214Papagos, Alexandros 205Papandreou, Andreas 214–15, 216Papandreou, George 203, 209–10Paparrigopoulos, Konstantinos 184parakratos 209, 210, 213Paris 153Parmenio 57Parsa 29Pantheon, Parthenon frieze 1, 29, 41–2,

43, 50, 55, 71 Parthia, Parthians 61, 63, 65, 76, 92PASOK 214–16Patras (Patrae) 84, 91, 119, 172, 176,

177, 178, 181, 189Pattakos, Stylianos 210Paul (King of Greece) 207, 209Pausanias I (Spartan king) 36Pausanias (geographer) 88, 92Pax Americana 206Pax Romana 77, 79, 82, 84, 95, 96, 97,

102Pechenegs (Inner Eurasian group)

123–4Peisistratus 25Pelagius (Papal legate) 137Pelgasians 27Pella 35, 48, 56Peloponnese 1, 3, 5, 9, 20, 23, 44, 47,

72, 73, 105, 112, 113, 120, 129, 131,137, 141, 147, 153, 157, 161, 165, 166,168, 171–3, 175, 176, 177, 178, 183,201, 202

Peloponnesian League 37, 43, 45, 49Peloponnesian War 42–6, 50, 67Perdikkas 60, 65Pergamon 61, 62, 65, 68, 69, 73, 91,

100, 101, 138Periander 24Pericles 37, 38–9, 43, 46Persepolis 59Persia: Iran 1, 6, 15, 29, 59, 60, 69;

Achemaenids 15, 18, 27, 28–33, 36,37, 39, 45, 49, 50, 52, 54, 55, 56,57–60, 67, 71; Sassanids 96, 107,108, 109–10, 111–12

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Persian Wars (490–479BC) 28, 29–33,39, 43, 44, 47, 55, 59, 71, 88

Petralona 3, 5Petros Philarges (Pope Alexander V)

154Phaistos 5, 7phalanx 19, 21, 25, 50–51Phanariots 151, 164, 165, 169, 171Pharos 65Pharsalus, battle of 76Pheidias 41Pheidon of Argos 24Philadelphia (Asia Minor) 147Philadelphia (Egypt) 67Philelfteron (see Liberal Party)Philiki Etereia 170–2Philip II of Macedonia 51, 52, 53–7, 60,

61, 71, 93Philip V of Macedonia 73–4, 80Philippopolis (Plodiv) 116, 138, 160,

162philosophy 21, 29, 42, 46–7, 65, 67, 68,

80, 81, 93, 95, 100, 101, 107, 117, 130,154, 167

Phoenicians, Phoenician influence 15,31, 36, 66–7, 68

Phokaia (old and new) 35, 152, 154 (seealso Foça)

Phokas (emperor) 109Pindar 40, 51, 130, 168Piraeus 37, 181, 183, 197Pisa 135Palace of the Giants (Athens) 103Plastiras, Nikolaos 197Plataea, battle of 31, 36, 71, 88Plato 29, 46–7, 70, 73, 101, 107Platonism, Neoplatonism 101, 153Pleistonax 43Plethon, Gemistos 149, 153Pliny the Younger 83–4Plutarch 21, 78, 89Poliochni 5polis, poleis 13–14, 21, 23, 27, 29, 40,

41, 46–7, 48, 50, 51, 52, 54, 64–5, 66,68, 69, 71, 73, 77, 83, 84, 85, 86, 97,102–3, 108, 110–11

Polybios 68, 74, 76, 77, 84Polykrates of Samos 24

Polykleitos 41Polytechnic uprising (Polytechnio) 211,

215Pompey, (Gnaeus Pompeius) 76, 77Pontic Greeks 149, 159, 194Populists 207Portugal 213, 217Potidaea 43Postumius Megellus, Lucius 79 Praxiteles 48prehistory 3–4Priene 35, 48Procopius 107, 108Proussa (see Prusa)Prusa (Proussa, Bursa) 83–4, 91, 93,

143Ptolemies 60–61, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 76,

77Ptolemy I Soter 60Ptolemy II Philadelphos 66publicani 76–7Pydna, battle of 74Pylos 5, 8, 9, 43, 152Pyrrhus (King of Epiros) 71, 73, 79Pythagoras 22–3, 24

Quadi (Germanic group) 95

Rallis Brothers 177Ramesses II 8Raphael 154Ravenna 108, 116Red Cross 201Red Terror 201, 205Refugee Settlement Commission 196refugees, Anatolian 195–7, 206Renaissance 29, 41, 79, 153–4Rhodes 2, 35, 52, 70, 76, 151, 152, 162,

178, 216Rhomios, Rhomioi x, 159–61 (see also

Roman identity)Richard the Lionheart 133–4riots of December 2008 217Robert Guiscard 124Rodocanachis family 177Roman identity 79–81, 87, 89, 95, 106,

127, 130–3, 140Romanos II 122

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Romanos IV Diogenes 124Rome (city) 73, 81, 99, 107, 108, 154Roxane 60Rum 164, 171 (see also Rhomios)Rumania, Rumanians 160, 164, 171, 186Rus 122Russia 118, 156, 165, 166, 167, 170,

173, 175, 177, 180, 185, 193, 194Russo-Turkish War of 1735–1739 166Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 156,

165

Sarkaya River 138, 143Salamis, battle of 31, 71, 32, 53Salt Lake City 190Samaras, Antonis 215Samarkand 52Samos 22, 24, 69, 176,Samosata 91, 92Sampson, Nicos 213San Giorgio dei Greci (Venice) 152San Vitale (see Ravenna)Santorini 2, 7, 113, 115Sappho 23Sarapis 67Sardinia 110Sardis 30, 35, 49, 110Saronic Gulf 176Scipones (Roman aristocratic family) 75Second Macedonian War 80Second Sophistic 79, 92–5Security Battalions 202, 203Seleukia 62, 64–5, 92Seleukids 61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 74, 77Seleukos Nikator 60–1Selim I 149Selim II 166Serbs, Serbia 122, 143, 144, 145, 147,

151, 156, 159, 161, 185–6, 191, 192Serres 157, 178Sgouros, Leo 137Sagudates 113Shalmaneser I 8Sharpur I 96Shelley, Percy Bysshe 168, 173Sicilian Vespers 141Sicily 14, 27, 37, 45, 46, 61, 77, 107,

110, 122, 141

Simitis, Costas 216Skleros 119, 121Skopje, (see FYROM)Slav invasions 108, 109, 111–12, 119Slav Macedonians 186, 196, 205, 215,

217Slavonic languages 118, 159Slavs 108, 109, 111, 112, 116, 118, 119,

120, 140, 157Smyrna (Izmir) 5, 21, 93, 94, 118, 138,

159, 162, 171, 177, 178, 179, 190,194–5, 197

Socrates 29, 42Solon 18, 20, 25Sophocles 29, 39, 52Soviet Union 202, 205Spain 149, 213, 217Sparta 20, 22, 24–5, 26, 28, 30–1, 33,

35, 36–8, 39, 42–6, 48, 49–50, 54,70–1, 74, 75, 87–8, 95, 96

St Augustine 100St Cyril 118St Demetrios 111St Mark’s, Venice 139St Paul 99St Peter 99St Petersburg 159Stagira 35, 47Stephen Dushan 145Stephen the Younger 115Stournaris 161Strabo 21, 23, 65Stratiotikos Syndesmos 186–7Sulla 78Sydney 206Symeon, Bulgarian Tsar 122Syngros, Andreas 183Synkellos, George 117synoikismos 13Syracuse 14, 37, 34, 45, 46, 61, 93Syria 4, 8, 9, 57, 60, 64, 86, 92, 99, 102,

109, 110, 111, 122, 125, 127, 152Syros 201

Taras 34, 73Taurus Montems 110Taxila 63, 64Tegyra, battle of 49

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temples 1, 13, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 27,40–6, 67, 83, 86, 103

Thales 22–3Thasos 35, 36, 178theatre 29, 32, 33, 39, 41, 42, 46, 52, 65,

80, 81, 30, 155, 184Thebes 5, 8, 28, 33, 39, 40, 46, 49, 50,

56, 57, 58, 59, 62, 83, 116, 119, 129thema, themata 112–13, 116, 119, 121,

139Theodorakis, Mikis 209Theodore Angelos (Despot of Epiros)

139Theodore I Laskaris 139Theodore II Laskaris 140Theodore of Studios 117Theodoric 105Theodosian Walls 102, 103, 129, 135,

146, 148, 150Theodosius I 99, 101Theodosius II 102, 103, 107Theotokopoulos, Domenikos (El Greco)

155Thermopylae 28, 31, 71, 74, 85Thersites 41Thespians 28Thessaloniki, Thessalonica, Salonica 3,

91, 116, 138, 162; Roman 96, 97, 99,103; Byzantine 111, 119, 129, 133,137, 139, 147, 148; Ottoman 162;Greek 192–3, 196, 197, 199, 202,208, 209, 216, 217

Thessaly 2, 3, 4, 26, 28, 31, 50, 52, 76,96, 119, 137, 139, 144, 157, 161, 162,169, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183

Thirty Tyrants 45, 47Thirty Year Peace 37tholos (Bronze Age warrior tomb) 7–8Thrace 43, 56, 57, 62, 91, 110, 112, 116,

133, 143, 145, 159, 162, 192–3, 194,195, 196, 199

Thucydides 13, 26, 29, 30, 38, 42, 43,45, 46, 75, 84, 108

Tiberias (city) 86Tiberius 83, 84Tiberios II 108Tinos 152Tiryns 5, 8, 20

Trajan 83–4, 85Trebizond (Trabzon) 118, 138, 159, 163Trebizond, Empire of 118, 142, 148,

149Tribonian 106–7Trieste 167Trikala 181, 178Trikoupis, Harilaos 182, 183, 185Tripoli 171Trojan 83–4, 85Troy 5, 18, 32, 33, 46, 80, 85Tsakalotos, Thrasyvoulos 205Tsolakoglou, Giorgos 199Turkey 1, 8, 63, 195–6, 201, 211, 213,

217Turkish Cypriots 211–13Turks 112, 123–4, 130, 143, 144, 145,

154, 157, 170, 185, 194–5, 198, 211,212; Seljuk Turks 123, 131, 138,141; Ottoman Turks 143, 144, 151(see also Ottoman Empire)

tyranny 23–5, 30, 45, 47, 61Tzia (Kea) 183–4

Ulu Burun 8Umar II 114Umayyad Caliphate 111United Democratic Left (EDA) 207United States of America 205, 211, 188,

191, 206, 206Uzbekistan 61

Valentzas, Ioannis 180Vandals 107Varangian Guard 122, 124, 136Varkiza 203Velestinlis, Rhigas 160, 169–70Venice, Venetians 129, 135, 137, 139,

141, 143, 146, 148, 152–3, 154, 155,157, 162, 166

Venizelos, Eleftherios 186–7, 191, 193,197

Venizelos, Sophokles 207 Vienna 155, 167Virgil 80, 81–2, 98Vlachs 157, 159, 160, 170, 176Vladimirescu, Tudor 171Voltaire, François-Marie Arouet 168

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Wallachia 162, 164, 171West Germany 208White Terror 202William of Achaea 141William of Tyre 128Wordsworth, Christopher 176Workers Liberation Front (see EAM)

xeniea 17Xenophanes of Kolophon 23Xerxes 28, 31, 32, 33, 54, 74, 131

Yarmuk, battle of 110Young Turks 186Yugoslavia 205

Zagorachoria 160, 161Zakros 5, 7Zappas, Evangelos 179Zeno (emperor) 102Zeno (Epicurean philosopher) 68Zeus 9, 40, 59, 67, 68, 85, 88, 94, 95

(see also Greek religion)Zoe (Byzantine empress) 126Zorba ix

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