History
How can one website summarize over 3,000 years of history? Not easily,but there are
key eras in Greek history. These time periods do overlap,but this is because the Greek
culture was born from many peoples migratingto the area.
During the Early Helladic culture (2500-1900 BC) Greece was largelyinhabited by a
pre Indo-European culture which scholars today call Aegean.Place names that end in -nthos
or -ssos, such as Corinthos, and Ilissos,are pre-Indo-European, and occur the most in
Attica and the Argolid. Namesfor many plants and metals as well as navigational terms also
come fromthe Aegean culture, which likely had a civilizing influence on the
incomingpeoples.
The Indo-European peoples probably began their migration into Hellasduring the
middle Helladic period (1990-1550 BC). With them they broughtthe dialect groups of Greece.
The Ionian (spoken in Attica and the Argolid),Achaean (spoken in the Peloponnese), and
Doric (a later arrival, spokenin the North West).
The migration of the Indo-Europeans affected the Mediterranean world,including
Anatolia, northern Mesopotamia as well as Asia. An even strongerinfluence at the time was
the Minoan or Cretan culture, which began toflourish during the Late Helladic or Early
Mycenaean period in 1900 BC.It is here that our story begins...
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