The Greek Dark Ages 

The Storytellers: The ancient Greeks loved stories. During the Grecian Dark Ages, some people became professional storytellers. They went from town to town, earning a living telling stories. They told the same stories over and over, and they told them in the same language, Greek. It was not long until nearly everyone in ancient Greece knew all the stories by heart. They also knew the Greek language by heart, as it was the language of the storytellers.  

The storytellers told three kinds of stories - fables, legends, and myths. 

1. A fable is a story that ends with a lesson to be learned. Probably the most famous of all fables came out of ancient Greece during the Greek dark ages - the stories of Aesop. 
   
   

2. A legend is a popular story that has been told over and over again about something that happened in the near or far past. To be a legend, there can be no proof that the story is true. That does not mean that it is not true. It only means that to be a legend, there cannot be proof that the story is true. One of the most popular legends was the story of the Trojan Horse. 
   
   

3. A myth is a story about one or more magical deities. The Greeks believed in many gods and goddesses and magical monsters and mythical animals. The Greek myths are still enjoyed today.  
   
   

Before the dark ages, many different tribes of early people lived on the Greek peninsula. They did not have a common language. They did not have a common history. They did not use metal tools or weapons. Their tools and weapons were made of stone. 

During the 400 years of the Greek dark ages, thanks to the traveling storytellers, the Greeks developed a common spoken language, a common history composed of fables, legends, and myths, and the ability to make tools and weapons out of metal. The Mycenaeans, Dorians, Ionians, Greeks, and other tribes who lived in scattered villages throughout the Greek peninsula had gradually became one people. 

When the early Greek people began to organize themselves into defensible units called city-states, the days of Dorian rule came to a end.

After the dark ages, things began to get lively!

The Greek Dark Ages

After the Dark Ages: The Ancient Greek City-States 

Explore Ancient Greece ...

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