HIST 2001 Chapter 5: The Growth of Athens and the Persian Wars
Document Summary
Athens from the bronze age to the early archaic age. Literary evidence and physical remains show that during the late bronze age athens was the largest and most important settlement on the attic peninsula. A major mycenaean palace centre exercised a loose control over the other fortified palace centres in the region. Athens would be spared from the end of the late 13th century upheaval. The first sign of athenian recovery from the post invasion slump is the appearance of protogeometric pottery around 1050 bce. Athens did not colonize overseas during the late 8th century, and the joining of the towns and villages of attica into a political unity under the leadership of athens was probably gradual, completing itself around the 8th century. This unification was ascribed to theseus, who had supposedly defeated the minotaur in crete and the. After the dark age, every settlement in attica considered itself athenian, and none attempted to declare independence as happened elsewhere.
