After the Dorians took over, Greece fell into a dark age. A dark age is a period of time we know very little about because people did not write things down. The Dorians did not write things down. 

Still, we know a great deal about the ancient Greeks during the 400 years that Greece was in a dark age. That's because the ancient Greeks loved to tell stories. Traveling Greek storytellers told the same stories over and over, all over Greece. 

They 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 that cam of out of ancient Greece during the Greek dark ages 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 a delight. People still tell them and read them today. 
   

Before the dark ages, there were many different tribes of early people living on the Greek peninsula. They did not have a common language or a common history. They used stone tools and weapons.

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

After the dark ages, things began to get lively! 

The Greek Dark Ages

After the Dark Ages: The Ancient Greek City-States

Free Ancient Greek PowerPoints

 

 

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