Historical Periods in Greece
It is a good idea to know the whole spectrum of time periods that we will encounter. Greece is a rich palimpsest, where one period overlies the previous one. By the end of the trip, we expect that you will be able to put artifacts and monuments into their proper historical contexts.
Greece: Chronology (dates BCE until Roman Period)
Paleolithic/Mesolithic ca. 70,000-6000
Neolithic ca. 6,000-3,000
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Bronze Age ca. 3,000-1,100. (ca. 2,000 Greeks in Greece)
Cycladic. Aegean Islands (ca. 3000-2000)
Minoan. Crete (ca. 1900-1400)
Mycenaean. Mainland Greece (also called “Helladic” ca.1700-1100)
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Dark Ages ca. 1,100- 800 (also called Iron Age)
Geometric ca. 800-700 (Named after the style of pottery decoration)
Orientalizing ca. 700-600 (Named after the style of pottery that shows influence from civilizations in the near east)
Archaic ca. 600- 490 (Development of basic political, artistic and cultural forms of the Greek city-state)
Classical 490- 323 (Also known as the “Golden Age” (in Athens). Unprecedented political and cultural achievements)
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Hellenistic 322-31 (Spreading of Greek culture and language after the conquests of Alexander the Great)
Roman 30 BCE - 330 CE (Greece as part of the Roman Empire)
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Byzantine 330-1453 CE (Greek-speaking Christian Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople).
Frankish/Venetian 1204 - 1687 (Western European Crusaders conquer and occupy parts of the Byzantine World)
Ottoman (Turkish) 1453-1913. Muslim Turks conquer Byzantine Empire (1453, the fall of Constantinople)
Modern (Independent) Greece 1827-present. The Greek War of Independence leads to the creation of Modern Greek state, the boundaries of which change throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.