Greece After the Trojan War

The Trojan War was a disaster for Greece eventually. Maybe because the war lasted for 10 years and during this time all the kings and armies of Greece were at the front. When the Greeks eventually conquered Troy and returned to their homes, they only found decaying societies.  Other speculation about the Greek decline after the war is that the Greeks wanted Troy because it probably reflected a real war  c.1200 B.C between the invading Greeks and the people of Troas, possibly over control of trade through the Dardanelles  and was not for Helen of Troy as it is written in the myth

 They spent much effort in the siege and when they finally conquered it, it without establishing their rule. This could be explained by historical citations of a  barbarian tribe which was invading and destroying the civilizations in the Middle East. Maybe the Greeks left Troy to prepare their defenses against them and since their economy was based on trading with the Middle Eastern countries, their civilization decayed because of the invasion.

Shortly after the Trojan War, there came a period known as the Dark Age.  Little is know about Greece in this time period. At the beginning of the 8th century B.C. there came an end to the Dark Age and the beginning of the Archaic Age. The literary work of the composer of the Iliad and the Odyssey, known as Homer,  were stories of creation told by Hesiod. These poets created what became the standard religious stories known and told about the ancestors of the Greeks. These were the gods and goddesses of Mt. Olympus.

During the Archaic Age,  communities came into contact with one another. Monarchy gave way to aristocracies. The foundations for democracy emerged, and some small farmers decided to move into the urban area and brought the beginning of the city-state.

While the city had marketplaces, business and trade were considered dishonest.  Exchange was necessary to fulfill need for family, friends, or community and was not simply for profit. Standards for proper behavior for citizens made some tasks demeaning. There were slaves to do the work that was beneath the dignity of a citizen. Despite resistance to money-making, by the end of the Archaic Age, the use of coins began, which helped promote trade.

During the Archaic Age there was expansion. Greeks from the mainland set out to settle the Ionian east. Certain colonists began to question the world around them, to look for a pattern in life and the cosmos, these in turn became the first philosophers.

When the Greeks  invented the lyre, they produced a new music to accompany it. At the beginning to the Archaic age, statues copying  the Egyptian style, and appeared stiff and lifeless, by the end of the period and the beginning of the Classical Age, statues were being created more lifelike.

Following the Archaic Age was the Classical Age. The Archaic Age ended  after the Persian Wars.

The Classical Age brought new ideas, philosophy, and new medical techniques to the Greeks and the Grecian world flourished to become the center of the Ancient world.