Greek History vs Mythology
Upvote:4
I generally suggest anyone interested in Ancient History in the Near East start with Colin McEvedy's New Penguin Atlas of Ancient History. This is a history of all the peoples of the near-east area since the dawn of humanity to 462 AD. Every page is the same base map, but advanced a few years, and a page opposite going into details about the political changes since the last map. This gives you an invaluable base of knowledge from which you can go do more detailed reading on individual topics or peoples at your discretion.
I find a lot of people who don't have this kind of broad base of knowledge can miss how individual bits of history fit into the whole.
It may sound daunting, but its relatively short compared to a typical non-fiction novel, and its a surprisingly fun read. The main drawback is that the last revision I believe was 2002, so some of the information isn't totally up to date.*
This actually gives you a surprisingly good overview of Greek history, from the murky details we have about their entry into the peninsula, to a lot of the detail during their era of military supremacy and colonization, clean up to their eventual near-eclipse by the growing power of Rome. There's even a few words in there about how their popular mythology fits into things (answer: not a whole lot, except perhaps metaphorically).
* - Of particular interest to you, I believe he presented a fairly simple Dorian invasion theory for the cause of the Greek Dark Ages. These days this is considered at best an oversimplification, if it happened at all.
Upvote:7
Short answer: Greek history, as opposed to myth and legend, begins about one hundred to three hundred years before the time of Herodotus.
Long answer:
Herodotus (c.484-c.425 BC) has been called "The Father of History".
he was the first historian known to have broken from Homeric tradition to treat historical subjects as a method of investigation—specifically, by collecting his materials systematically and critically, and then arranging them into a historiographic narrative.[2]
The Histories is the only work which he is known to have produced, a record of his "inquiry" (ἱστορία historía) on the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars; it primarily deals with the lives of Croesus, Cyrus, Cambyses, Smerdis, Darius, and Xerxes and the battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, Artemisium, Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale; however, its many cultural, ethnographical, geographical, historiographical, and other digressions form a defining and essential part of the Histories and contain a wealth of information. Some of his stories are fanciful and others inaccurate, yet he states that he is reporting only what he was told; a sizable portion of the information he provided was later confirmed by historians and archaeologists.
Despite Herodotus's historical significance, little is known of his personal life.
The main persons listed as subjects of the history of Herodotus were:
Croesus (595-c.546 BC) King of Lydia.
Cyrus II The Great (c. 600-530 BC) The Great King, the King of Kings, The King of Lands and Peoples, The King of the World.
Cambyses II (d. 522 BC) The Great King, the King of Kings, The King of Lands and Peoples, The King of the World.
Darius I (c.560-486 BC) The Great King, the King of Kings, The King of Lands and Peoples, The King of the World.
Xerxes I (519-465 BC) The Great King, the King of Kings, The King of Lands and Peoples, The King of the World.
The battles that are main subjects include:
Marathon (490 BC).
Thermopylae (480 BC).
Artemisium (480 BC).
Salamis (480 BC).
Plataea (479 BC).
Mycale (479 BC).
Herodotus reports on the possible mythical origins of conflict between Europe and Aisa, but most of his work covers events in the previous two centuries or about 650 to 450 BC. It is likely that the sources used by Herodotus for recent events were more accurate that the sources used for earlier events that had more time for exaggeration, confusion, and propaganda during the transmissions of those stories.
The ancient Greeks began holding Olympic games every four years at Olympus in Greece. An Olympiad was the term for a four year period beginning the summer when Olympic games were held and ending in the summer at the beginning of the fifth year right before the next next set of Olympic games was held.
It eventually became the Greek custom to date events to the year of the Olympiad in which they happened, the first second third, or fourth year of the particular Olympiad.
Any event that was recorded at the time it happened as happening in a particular year of a particular Olympiad is precisely dated.
Timaeus of Tauromenium (c.345-c.250 BC) was the first historian to use Olympiad dating to date events.
The first Olympic games were probably held in 776 BC according to our modern Gregorian calendar.
And I believe that some ancient Greek historians considered that the age of myths and legends ended about then and the age of history began about then.
Therefore a rough rule could be that most Greek events said to happen before about 776 BC are myths or legends (though they could be true) and most Greek events said to happen after about 776 BC are more or less history (although possibly distorted or falsified history).
More post
- 📝 How many times did the US experiment before dropping the atomic bomb in Japan?
- 📝 What country has the shortest history of human habitation?
- 📝 What happened to all the historical photos taken by Malcolm X?
- 📝 What do the letters "L" and "G" mean on the coat of arms of the city of Liège?
- 📝 Would Jewish Ukranians historically have worn vyshyvankas and integrated Slavic embroidary into their lives?
- 📝 What is the most important historical theme of Bronze age society
- 📝 Was there a Viking Exchange as well as a Columbian one?
- 📝 Can you recommend a book on the French Revolution?
- 📝 What was the Japanese or Axis motivation to drag US into the War?
- 📝 Why was the water in roman fountains cold?
- 📝 Why are baseball pitches that miss the strike zone called "balls"?
- 📝 Were there any non-Mischling Jews in the Nazi party or military?
- 📝 Henry I. (the Fowler): What kind of contact to hostages was seen as appropriate?
- 📝 Why didn't Alexander invade India?
- 📝 Can anyone help ID the probably World War One, Austrian, Italian, or Czech uniform in the picture?
- 📝 Why Europe became more developed although metal was first discovered and used in Asia/Africa?
- 📝 In WW2, which midget submarine program was the most successful?
- 📝 Why were the Mongolian armies able to to use greater percentages of archers than (Medieval) Europeans?
- 📝 Why did the Jacobites lose the Battle of Aughrim?
- 📝 When was grass seed first imported specifically for aesthetic reasons?
- 📝 Is there evidence to suggest the CIA didn't want Reagan to end the Cold War?
- 📝 What was the program of the Mensheviks in their later years? How did they hope to achieve it?
- 📝 What happened to the German WW II debt?
- 📝 Have US troops ever been lawfully quartered in private homes during wartime under the Third Amendment?
- 📝 Was being in the KKK politically/socially acceptable in early 1900's American South?
- 📝 What is the first horse name recorded in history?
- 📝 What transit restrictions were in place in Occupied Germany limiting military and civilian movement between the four occupation zones?
- 📝 Are there any Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, or any foreign account of the demise of the Hittites?
- 📝 Whom did Vernon Jordan help secure affirmative-action jobs in the (pre-)Clinton White House?
- 📝 Does special perception of rhyme by humans indicate importance of poetry in prehistoric era?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Greek History vs Mythology
- 📝 When did Greek historians stop believing Greek mythology to be historical fact?
- 📝 How could one understand the essence of Greek mythology and the deep meanings? Understanding the belief system of Ancient Greeks
- 📝 Is history always written by the victors?
- 📝 History of scientific regression
- 📝 When did worshipping of ancient Greek gods come to an end?
- 📝 Which year in history had the highest ratio of non-natural deaths?
- 📝 What did people in 13th century England know about Greek mythology?
- 📝 Which countries (or comparable geographical units) have a lower population now than they used to at some point in history before 1950?
- 📝 What is the difference between the Ancient Greek religion and the Ancient Roman religion?
- 📝 Was Alexander the Great Greek or Macedonian?
- 📝 Why is Dravidian history ignored?
- 📝 Did the Persian Immortals instill fear in their Greek adversaries?
- 📝 Do Real Roman and Greek warriors have big muscles and six-pack abs like in the movie?
- 📝 What was the first battle in history fought by vast-majority-% "distance-shooting" non-mechanized force?
- 📝 Is black American history only about segregation, slavery, and the 3 people you get taught about in school?
- 📝 Japan is known for being isolationist, so what cultivated its history of interventionism in the 20th century?
- 📝 Does the Catholic church have a long history of child abuse, or is it something that started in our time?
- 📝 What is the history of the popped collar?
- 📝 In Antiquity, were Persian arrows considered superior to their Greek counterparts?
- 📝 What is the history of the university asylum law?
- 📝 Pre-Christian use of the Greek Septuagint
- 📝 What is the large blue object on the right in this picture showing Greek fire?
- 📝 Has history mistreated Nero?
- 📝 Did Greek traders visit the Philippines in the 1st century AD?
- 📝 Why was the Greek alphabet not adopted by other languages, given the Greek influence?
- 📝 Does Chinese history really span the past 5000 years?
- 📝 What were Greek and Roman sails made from?
- 📝 How did the Druids learn the Greek language by the time of Caesar's campaign in Gaul?
- 📝 Pedophilia in ancient Greek and Roman culture